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A SUMMER 



ON 



s-?- 



^r 



THE BORDERS 



OP 



THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 



/ 

BY J. DENNIS HARRIS. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 




NEW YORK J 
A. B. BURDICI^, PUBLISHER, 

No. 145 NASSAU STREET. 
1860. 






;z ^1^367 



Entered according to Act of Oongi-ess, in the year 1S60, by 

J.DEKNIS HAEEIS, 

In the clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the South- 
ern District of New York. 



ADYEKTISEMENT. 



Through the columns of leading journals in New York, St. 
Louis, and other localities, we have had occasion to acknowl- 
edge the fact that the pohtical views which gave rise to the 
present volume, though comparatively new, have generally 
met the approval of distinguished statesmen and philanthro- 
pists, ISTorth and South.* 

The following note from the venerable Mr. Griddings indi- 
cating the proposition, is but one of a large number which we 
have received from various parts of the country :: — . 

Jefferson^ Ohio, July 13, 1859. 
My Dear Sir : — I am heartily in favor of Mr. Blair's plan 
of furnishing territory in Central America for the use of such 
of our African brethren as wish to settle in a chmate more 
congenial to the colored race than any that our government 
possesses. 

I hope and trust you may be successful in your efforts. 

Yery truly, 
J. D. Harris, Esq. J. R. aiDDINaS. 

The subjoined, respecting the work itself, is from Mr. Wil- 

* See Appendix. 



IV ADVEETISEMENT. 

liam Cullen Bryant, by whom, in addition to Mr. G-eorge W. 
Curtis, a portion of these communications was reviewed : — 

Roslyn, Long Island^ August 26, 1860. 
Dear Sir : — I have looked over with attention the letters 
you left with me, and return them herewith. It appears to 
me it will be very well to publish them. Of the Spanish 
part of the island of San Domingo very httle is known — 
much less than of the French part ; and the information you 
give of the country and its people is valuable and interesting. 





I am. Sir, 




Respectfully yours. 


[. J". D. Harris. 


W. C. BRYANT. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION^ i . . i .. Vil 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 

LBTTEK I. 

J'rom New York to Puerto de Plata — Smoothness of the Toyage — 
Hayti in the Distance — The Custom-House Officers — Descrip- 
tion of the Standing Army — Unparalleled Scenic Beauty 18-19 

LETTER II. 

Want of Information — One side of a Question — The other side — 

Causes of the decline of the Spanish Colony — Subsequent history 20-30 

LETTER III. 
Corpus Ohristi — The Farm of the Fugitive Slave 81-35 

LETTERIV. 
First Eide in the Country — Pastorisa Place 36-41 

• LETTER V. 
Valley of the Isabella -^ Customs of the People — A Call for Dinner . . 42-50 ^ 

LETTER VI. 

On the way to Porto Oabello ^^ AntUle- Americana — Immigration Or- 
dinance 51-61 

LETTER YIL 

Proposed American Settlement — A Picture of Life -^ Tomb of the 

Wesleyan Missionary , 62-6T 

LETTER YIII. 

Summary of Dominican Staples, Exports, and Products. . . . i 68-75 

1* 



VI contekts. 

REPUBLIC OP HAITI 

HISTORICAL SKETCH* 

LETTER IX. 
State of Affairs previous to 1790. f6-88 

LETTER X. 

Affairs in France — Case of the Mulattoes — Terrible Death of Oge atid 

Chavine 84-92 

LETTER XI. 

Tragedy of the Eevolution — A Chapter of Horrors (which the delicate 

reader may, if he pleases, omit) 93-104 

LETTER XII. 
Tragedy of the Eevolution, continued — » Eigaud succeeded by L'Ou- 

verture — L'Ouverture duped by Le Clerc 105-116 

LETTER XIII. 
The War Eenewed — " Liberty or Death" — Expulsion of the French 
— Jean Jacques Dessalines, First Emperor of Hayti — The Aurora 
of Peace — Principal Events up to present date — Geffrard on Ed- 
ucation 118-12T 



CtEAND TPEI'S and CAICOS ISLANDS, 
LETTER XIV, 

An Island of Salt — Honor to the British Queen — Sir Edward Jordan, 

of Jamaica -^ A Story in Parenthesis — The Poetry of Sailing .... 128-13'? 

BEITISH HONDURAS. 

LETTER XV.. 

Off Euatan — The Sailor's Love Story — Sovereignty of the Bay Islands 

—'English vs. American Yietv of Central American Affairs 138-159 

CONCLUSIYE SUMMAEY. 
LETTER XVI, 
Concise Description of the Spanish Main — Dominieana Eeviewed -^ 

The magnificent Bay of Samana — Conclusive Summary 151-160 

APPENDIX. 

The Anglo- African Empire — Opinions of distinguished Statesmen and 

Philanthropists... ........ .... . 161-1 f9 



IHTRODITCTION, 



The free colored American, of whatever shade, 
sees that his destiny is linked with slavery. Where V 
his face is a crime he can not hope for justice. In 
the country which enslaves his face he can never 
i)ean acknowledged man. That it is his native 
country does not help him. The author of thig 
book is an American as much as James Buchanan. 
He is more so : for the father of Mr. Buchanan was 
born in Ireland, and the father of Mr. Harris wag 
born in Korth Carolina. But the one becomes 
president ; the other is officially declared to haVe 
no rights which white men are bound to respect. 

The intelligent colored man, therefore, as he pon= 
ders the unhappy condition of his race among us, per- 
ceives that, even if slavery in the Southern States 
were to be immediately abolished^ his condition would 
be only nominally and legally, not actually, equal to 
that of the whites. The traditional habit of^ques^ 
tioned mastery can not be laid aside at will.^i'eju^ ^4 
dice is not amenable to law. There is a terrible logic 
in the slave system. For the proper and safe subju- 



viii INTRODUCTION. 

gation of the slave there must be silence, ignorancej 
and absolute despotism. But these react upon' the 
master ; and the difficulties and dangers of emanci- 
pation, as the history of Jamaica shows, are found 
upon the side of the master and not of the slave. 
The law might establish a political equality between 
them, but the old feeling would survive, and would 
still exclaim with the San Domingo planters when 
the French Assembly freed the mulattoes in 1791j 
^' We would rather die than share our political 
rights with a bastard and degenerate race." 

The free colored man, wishing to help himself 
and his race, may choose one of several methods. 
If he dare to take the risk, he may try to recover 
by force the rights of which force only deprives 
him. But his truest friends among the dominant 
race will assure him that such a course is mere sui- 
cide. In a war of races in this country his own 
would be exterminated. Or he may say with Geo. 
T» Downing, " I feel that I am working for the 
people with whom I am identified in oppression} 
in securing a business name : I shall strive for my 
and their eievatioUj but it will be by a strict and 
undivided attention to business." Or he may be^ 
lieve with Jefferson, " Nothing is more certainly 
written in the book of fate than that these people 
[the colored] are to be free : nor is it less certain 
that the two races equally free can not live in the 



INTKODUCTION. IX 

same government. Nature, habit, opinion, have 
drawn indissoluble lines of distinction between 
them." 

This latter opinion is shared by many intelligent 
public men in this country, of whom Francis P. 
Blair, Jr., of Missouri, Senator Doolittle, of Wis- 
consin, and Senator Bingham, of Michigan, are "the 
most conspicuous. They believe that the emigra- 
tion of free colored people, protected by the United 
States, into some region of propitious climate and 
beyond the taint of prejudice against color, would 
have the most important practical influence upon 
the question of emancipation in this country, and 
of the consequent restoration of the colored race to 
the respect of the world. 

It is not surprising that a docile and amiable peo- 
ple enslaved by nearly half the States, — legally ex- 
cluded from many of the rest, and everywhere con- 
temned, should believe this, and turn their eyes 
elsewhere in the fond faith that any land but their 
own is friendly. 

The author of this book is of opinion that under 
the protection of the United States government a 
few intelligent and industrious colored families 
could colonize some spot within the Gulf of Mexico 
or upon its shores, and there live usefully and re- 
spected ; while gradually an accurate knowledge of 
the advantages of such a settlement would be 



X INTEODUCTIOISr. 

spread among their friends in tlie United States, 
and, as they developed their capacities for labor and 
society, not only attract their free brethren to follow, 
but enable the well-disposed slaveholders to see 
an easy and simple solution of the question which 
so deeply perplexes them, " What should we do with 
the emancipated slaves ?" 

But neither Mr. Harris nor his friends, so far as 
I know, anticipate the final solution of the practical 
problem of slavery by emigration. They do not 
contemplate any vast exodus of their race ; for they 
know how slowly even the small results they look 
for must be achieved, since the first condition is 
the protection of the American government. Mr. 
Harris thinks that the island of Hayti or San Do- 
mingo, in its eastern or Dominican portion, offers 
the most promising prospect for such an experi- 
ment ; and this little book is the record of his own 
travel and observation upon that island and at 
other points of the Caribbean sea. It contains a 
brief and interesting sketch of the insurrection of 
Toussaint L'Ouverture, a story which incessantly 
reminds every thoughtful man that slavery every- 
where, however seemingly secure, is only a sup- 
pressed, not an extinguished, volcano. 

I commend the book heartily as sincere and 
faithful, quite sure that it will command attention 
not only by its intrinsic interest and merit, but as 



INTRODUCTION". xi 

another silent and eloquent protest against the sys- 
tem whicli, while it deprives men of human rights, 
also denies them intellectual capacity. I think we 
may pardon the author that he does not love the 
government of his native land. But surely he and 
all other colored men may congratulate themselves 
that the party whose principles will presently 
control that government repeats the words of the 
Declaration -of Independence as its creed of politi- 
cal philosophy. 

GEORaE WILLIAM CURTIS. 
New York, September Ist^ 1860. 



A SUMMER 



ON THE BORDERS OF 



THE CAEIBBEAN SEA 



LETTEE I. 
X>oiM.iiiicaii Iiepii.l>lic. 

FROM NEW YORK TO PUERTO DEL PLATA — -SMOOTHNESS OF THE 

VOYAGE HAYTI IN THE DISTANCE DESCRIPTION OF THE 

STANDING ARMY UNPARALLELED SCENIC BEAUTY. 



" Is John departed, and is Lilburn gone ? 
Farewell to both, to Lilburn and to John." 

Htjdibeas. 

T was a mild, showery morning on the 19t]i of 
May, 1860, that the brig John Butler, on 
board of which we were, left her dock at New 
York and anchored off the Jersey Flats. • From 
this point we enjoyed the pleasantest and decidedly 
most satisfactory view of the great commercial city 
and its environs. The many white-sailed vessels 
and finely -painted steamers plying in and out the 
North and East rivers, and between the bright 
2 



14 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

green undulating slopes of Staten and Long islands, 
presented a picturesque and animated scene, quite 
in contrast witli the dark walls and stately steeples 
of the city which arose beyond. 

More delightfully refreshing nothing could have 
been. Altogether, the fine air and characteristic 
scenes of New York bay amply repaid the incon- 
venience of remaining all day in sight of the great 
metropolis, without being jostled in its streets or 
snuffing the peculiar atmosphere that pervades it. 

On the morning of the 20th we sailed out of the 
bay, passed Sandy Hook, and were at sea. The 
sky was clear, and the ocean calm. Betwixt the 
novelty of being at sea for the first time and the 
dread of that sickness which all landsmen fear, but 
know to be inevitable, I was kept in a state of mod- 
erate excitement which effectually annihilated those 
sentimental sorrows which one is expected at such 
times to entertain. The first vessel we met coming 
in was the Porto Plata, from this city, and owned 
by a German firm on the corner of Broadway and 
Wall street, Kew York. • Her cargo, I have since 
learned, consisted principally of mahogany and 
hides. 

Our mornings were passed mostly in studying 
the Dominican language, which, as nearly as I can 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC. lo 

analyze it, is a compound of Spanish, French, Eng- 
lish, Congo, and Caribbean — but, of course, prin- 
cipally Spanish. The afternoons were spent in 
jSshing, and catching sea- weed, watching the flying- 
fish, or in looking simply and silently on the ever- 
bounding sea, which was in itself an infinite and 
unwearying source of irrepressible delight. A com- 
paratively quiet sameness characterized the voy- 
age. With bright clouds pencilling the sunset sky, a 
fresh breeze stiffening the sails, and the ship gliding 
smoothly over the buoyant waves, the sensations 
were at times exceedingly exhilarating, and even 
supremely delicious. But there were no dead calms, 
no terrific storms. To-day was the pale blue sky 
above, and the deep blue ocean rolling everywhere 
around ; and to-morrow the sky was equally as 
fine, and the same dark heaving ocean as bound- 
lessly sublime. Had there been a storm, if only 
for description's sake 1 

But the poetry ceased. We were now in the 
latitude of the regular trade-winds, with which 
every man is supposed to be as certainly familiar 
as he is with a school-book, or the way to church. 
Where were the winds ? Wanting — from the south 
and east when they should have been from the 
west, and vice versa. As for their reputed regular- 



16 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

itj, they were no more regular tlian a sinner at 
prayers. Four successive days we averaged about 
one mile an hour, and this was in the trade-winds ! 
For the honor of all concerned, however, I will say 
(on the point-blank oath of our captain) that such a 
thing never occurred before, and, as he expressed 
it, "mightn't be again in a thousand years." I 
thought of an old man who once went travelling, and 
when he returned he was asked what he had learned. 
He said, simply, " I was a fool before, but by trav- 
elling I found it out." The astounding thunder- 
storms you hear about in the West Indies were all 
gone before we got here ; so were the whirlwinds. 
After a sail of twelve days, a long, dim, bluish 
outline, as of a cloud four hundred miles in length, 
stood out above the waves. Soon, with a glass, 
could be distinguished the regularly rising table- 
lands and lovely green valleys, the dark mountains 
standing in the background. I was at once agitated 
with all the anxieties of hope and fear. "We were 
approaching the eventful shores of San Domingo, 
embracing as it does the Dominican and Haytien 
republics. But however thrillingly interesting its 
past history may have been, the practical question 
was whether the present state of affairs here would 
not be found unsatisfactory, and the climate hotter 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 17 

and less healthy than was desirable, or whether the 
luxuriant indications of opulence and ease I now 
beheld might not prove to be more captivating 
than expected, and the climate even more delight- 
fully salubrious than I had dared to anticipate. I 
watched the lingering sunlight, wrapping the clouds, 
the mountains, and the sky into one glowing and 
refulgent scene, with all the enthusiasm of which my 
soul was capable ; but the sun went quietly down, 
and the supper-bell reminded me of a fresh-caught 
mackerel. The sun and the land will come again 
to-morrow, but the mackerel disappeared forever. 

Morning did come, and with it came the pilot 
(black). We entered the "port of silver" (Puerto 
del Plata). The harbor is a poor one ; but if there 
be one thing on earth deserving the epithet " sub- 
lime," it is the surrounding scenery. We anchored, 
and there awaited the coming of the custom-house 
officers. The officers came — some white, some colo- 
red — and with them Mr. Collins, an American gen- 
tleman to whom I was addressed. He received me 
liberally, invited me to stop with him, promising to 
show me around the country, introduce me to the 
General, (black,) and do a variety of other things de- 
cidedly un-American, but very gentlemanly indeed. 

It was Saturday afternoon when we went ashore, 



18 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

and it so happened there was to be a government 
proclamation. In due time the drum struck up, 
and down came the standing army, looking for all 
the world like a parcel of ragamufl&n boys playing 
militia. I counted them, and I think there were 
four drummers, two fifers, and two lines of soldiers 
— thirteen in a line. Some were barefooted, others 
wore shoes ; some of their guns had bayonets, and 
others none. The manner in which they bore them 
compared with the foregoing suggestions, and so on 
to the end of this ridiculous scene. Dominicana 
has a government — so poets have empires. 

In passing through the streets one is compelled 
to observe the non-progressive appearance of every- 
thing around him. There lie the unturned stones, 
just as they were laid a century ago. The houses are 
generally built one story high, with conical-shaped 
roofs, for no other reason than that that is the 
way this generation found them. Mr. Collins, who 
is a bachelor, lives in an airy two-story house, with 
a charming verandah running its whole length, cool 
and delicious, and surrounded by the sweetest fruit- 
trees outside of Eden. I found myself perpetually 
exclaiming, ''Oh! what beautiful, bright roses!" 
what this, and what that, until I felt shamefully 
convicted of my own enthusiastic ignorance. I 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 19 

need not repeat the traveller's story, for the cer- 
tainty of exposure is sure. Look at a wood-cut and 
say that you have seen Niagara, but don't read Har- 
per's picture-books and suppose you have any 
idea of Haytien floral beauty.* 

Of course I have not been here long enough to 
know whether it is a fit place for a man to live in, 
or for a number to colonize, and I am well aware, 
when the question of politics comes up, it turns on 
a very different pivot ; but by all that is magnifi- 
cent, lovely, exquisite, and delicious in its vegetable 
productions, I do set it down a perfect paradise. 

* "When the island was discovered by Columbui, it received from 
him the name of Hispaniola— " Little Spain." It was afterwards 
called Santo Domingo; but the original name given it by the 
natives, and revived by Dessalines, is said to be Hayti. The Hay- 
tien territory, however, is but about two-fifths of the island, the 
greater part being owned by the Dominicans. 



LETTEK II. 
I>oiiiiiiicaii R. epu-lblic 

WANT OF INFORMATION ONE SIDE OF A QUESTION. 

^r'HEKE is no school-boy but remembers, when 
^ tracing the history of Columbus on his per- 
ilous voyage across the sea in search of a new 
world, how eagerly he watched each favorable in- 
dication of bird or sea- weed, and ultimately with 
what rapture he greeted the joyous cry of land ; 
nor who, looking back through the vista of centu- 
ries past, but brings vividly to mind the landing of 
Columbus, the simplicity of the natives, the cupid- 
ity of the Spaniards, and their insatiable thirst for 
gold. But further than this — further than a knowl- 
edge of a few of the most striking outlines of the 
earlier history of Hayti, or Hispaniola — there is 
generally known little or nothing ; little of the vi- 
cissitudes and sanguinary scenes through which the 
peoples of this island have passed ; nothing of the 
" easily attainable wealth almost in sight of our 
great commercial cities;" nothing of its sanitary 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 21 

districts peculiarly conducive to longevity. On tlie 
contrary, erroneous and exaggerated notions pre- 
vail, that because it is not within a given circle of 
isothermal lines it must necessarily be fit for the 
habitation only of centipedes^ bugbears, land-sharks, 
and lizards. Indeed, it has been well said there is 
perhaps no portion of the civilized world of which 
the American people are so uninformed ; and, in 
fact, so anomalous and apparently contradictory to 
the generally received impression does everything 
appear, that I almost despair of these papers being 
regarded as other than humorously paradoxical. 

I am standing now on the line of 19° 45' of north 
latitude, or but 20° 15' south of the city of Kew 
York, and but 3° of longitude east, a distance not 
greater, I think, than by river from St. Louis to New 
Orleans, a distance frequently made by steamers 
within four days, and a distance which may be trav- 
elled over on railroads in the States at the rate of 
three times a week ! Yet there are many persons 
who, were you to speak to them concerning this por- 
tion of the American tropics, you would find, regard 
it as being somewhere away on the coast of Africa, 
and the voyage hither long and tediously disagree- 
able. It is in reality but a small pleasure trip. 

This is one side; but the great lesson of the 
2* 



22 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

J^orld's experience is that tbere are two sides to 
every question. 

THE OTHER SIDE. 

On tlie other hand, it may well be asked, if this 
be the Eden of the New World, why its flowers 
should be "born to blush unseen," audits "gems 
of purest ray" remain hidden in its hills ; or, to 
speak less classically, why the country should lie 
so long a comparative terra incognita^ producing 
generations of indolent men and women, excelling 
only in superstition, idleness, and profound stupid- 
ity. In the " Silver Port," the port in which we 
entered, vessels get within a quarter of a mile of 
land ; then lighters take the cargo half the remain- 
ing distance, and from thence ox-carts convey it to 
the shore, when a comparatively small outlay of in- 
genuity, capital, and labor would make it a respect- 
able harbor. 

The men generally dress — ^those that dress at all 
— in cool white linen, Panama hats, and light gai- 
ter boots. They look nice ; but the red-turbaned, 
ofteu bare-stockinged, loosely-dressed women are 
shocking. 

"Know then this truth, (enough for man to know,) 
Virtue alone is happiness below." 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 23 

Soon after we arrived, a dark, brown -skinned, 
and as handsome a looking man as I ever saw, came 
on board as watcbnian. For my particular benefit, 
I suppose, the captain inquired if he had a wife ; to 
which he replied, in broken Spanish, " Two — one is 
not a plenty." 

A large portion of the cargo of the vessel in 
which I came consisted of lumber for the erection 
of a storehouse. The same vessel will be freighted 
back with timber of a superior quality. Indeed, the 
shores are lined with yellow=wood and mahogany ; 
hut it is not sawed. A gentleman is reported to have 
built a house in one of the interior towns which 
would have cost in Northern Ohio about $800, at a 
cost of $25,000. Inquire why this is so— why this 
listless inactivity prevails — and you receive the an- 
swer, " Well, waat is the use ?" or, as Tennyson has 
it, " Yot's the hods, so long as you're 'appy." The 
" apathy of despair" has not reached here, but the 
apathy of stupidity is incurable. 

CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF THE SPANISH COLONY. 

I am aware that many persons, among them our 
finest writers on " Civilization — Its Dependence 
on Physical Circumstances," attribute the cause 
of the island's decline from its ancient splendor, 



24 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

and tlie consequent supine indifference of the natives, 
to the effeminating influences attending all tropical 
climates; and, without prejudice, I believe such 
would be very greatly the case in a very large por 
tion of the tropical world ; but it is a libel on Hayti 
and Dominicana. The country is as healthy as Vir- 
ginia, and, except in its excessive beauty and fertil 
ity, resembles much the state of North Carolina 
"Kobody dies in Por t-au- Platte," they say; but I 
should be sorry to find it true. I trace the cause in 
the country's history, as I think the following 
brief glance will show, for much of which I am 
indebted to W. S. Courtney, Esq., and his essay on 
^' The Gold Fields of St. Domingo." We will say 
the civilized history of the country began with the 
Spaniards in 1492. The inhabitants, at the time of 
its discovery by Columbus, were a simple-minded, 
hospitable, and kind-hearted people, the fate (un- 
paralleled suffering) of whom I have no disposition 
to record. The studious reader of American history 
will shudder at the bare recollection of the predato- 
ry scenes and excessively inhuman and bewildering 
iniquities of which they fell the victims, and which, 
if perpetrated now in any part of the world, " would 
send a thrill of horror to the heart of universal 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC. 25 

man." Montgomery, I think it is, expresses their 
fate touchingij, and in a nut-shell, thus : 



" Down to the dust the Carib people passed, 
Like autumn foliage withering in the blast ; 
A whole race sunk beneath the oppressor's rod, 
And left a blank among the works of God !" 



The Spanish colonists brought with them, of 
course, the Spanish language, customs, laws, and 
religion, which language, customs, and religion 
prevail to this day. Thej were exceedingly pros- 
perous through a long series of years. They built 
palatial residences, cultivated sugar and tobacco 
farms, erected prodigious warehouses, established 
assay offices, and worked the mines on a grand but 
unscientific scale. The mines are supposed to have 
yielded from twenty-five to thirty millions of dol- 
lars per annum, and the exports of sugar and other 
productions showed a corresponding degree of pros- 
perity. 

In about 1630 the island began to decline^ 
The natives had been driven and tortured to the 
last degree, and the heroic Spaniards began to look 
around for other countries to conquer, other people 
to enslave. They discovered Mexico, Peru, and 
Brazil. "The most glowing and captivating accounts 



26 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

went forth of the incalculable wealth of those coun- 
tries in silver and gold, and multitudes abandoned 
their homes and haciendas and flocked thitherwards, 
in the hope of realizing wealth untold. Plantations 
and mines that had been producing immense rev- 
enues were abandoned to waste and desolation, and 
the population of the island was reduced one half 
from this one cause alone. Meanwhile, the French 
had established themselves on the western part of 
the island, and the present Haytien territory was 
ceded to France in 1773. 

The remaining Spaniards introduced African 
slaves to supply the place of natives, and with this 
labor they were enabled to recover somewhat of 
their ancient thrift. Soon after this, the revolt in 
the French portion of the island occurred, and many 
of the Spanish slaves left the territory to join the 
standard of their revolutionary brethren. Besides 
this, whenever the French royalists drove the 
revolutionary forces back into the mountains, and 
cut off their supplies, the latter entered the 
Spanish territory, helped themselves to what they 
needed, destroyed the haciendas, carried off cattle 
and crops, and if they were resisted, as they some- 
times were, they slaughtered the Spaniards as they 
do hogs in Cincinnati, Ohio, set the cities on fire, 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 27 

and left behind a grand but terribly universal 
ruin. 

The history of San Domingo was never com= 
pletely written, and if it were, would never find a 
reader. But stand here on these shores, with a 
rising panorama of half the scenes enacted by these 
revolting and infuriated slaves, and there is not a 
planter in the Southern United States, who, for all 
the wealth Peru, Mexico, and St. Domingo could 
produce, would be willing to return home and re= 
main there over night. 

Finally, Dessalines, that extraordinary prince of 
cut-throats, entered the Spanish territory, slaughter- 
ed the French, laid waste the country for leagues, 
carried off the remaining slaves, and so bewildered 
and astounded the Spanish residents that they 
gathered up what movable wealth they could and 
left the country, " some for Mexico, some for Peru, 
while many returned to Spain." 

Such are the principal and to me satisfactory caus- 
es which history assigns for the decline of the 
island's thrift, which had reached an unparalleled 
degree of prosperity and an unsurpassed grandeur 
and magnificence, with a rapidity unrivalled in the 
annals of the world. 



28 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. 

For the gratification of your many readers, I 
will continue this homoeopathic sketch of the island's 
history up to the present time. 

In 1821 the Dominican portion (which embraces 
about three -fifths of the island, but having, I think, 
not more than one=fourth of its population) de- 
clared itself independent of the Spanish crown, but 
was shortly after subjugated by Boyer, the Presi- 
dent of the Haytien Eepublic, In 1842 a revolu= 
tion in Hayti caused Boyer to flee, and Eiviere 
assumed the presidency. Two years after, the 
Dominicans overpowered Eiviere, and on the 27th 
of February, 1844, reestablished their government, 
or rather the present government of Domiaicana. 
The main features of their constitution are, that 
each district or canton choose electors, who meet in 
preliminary electoral convention, and elect for four 
years the President and other administrative ofii- 
cers, and a certain number of counsellors, who con- 
stitute a congress. 

The President, Pedro Santana, is a mixed blood 
of Spanish and Indian descent, and is emphatically 
regarded as a most estimable personage. Baez, the 
former President, is said to be of mixed French 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 29 

and African lineage ; in short, there is no differ- 
ence on account of color. 

In 1849, Solouque, the President of Hayti, con- 
trary to the wish of many Haytiens, "andertook to 
conquer the Dominicans, and bring them unwil- 
lingly under his despotic sway. He entered the 
territory with five thousand men, but was met at 
Las Carreas, and disastrously defeated by General 
Santana, " with an army of but four hundred men 
under his command." This is the truth, or history 
is a lie. 

For this brilliant achievement Santana received 
the title of " Liber tador de la Patria," and seems to 
be admired, comparatively speaking, after the man- 
ner of our " liberator " and Father of his country. 
(Bah !) 

But a small portion of the Haytiens, as I have 
before observed, sympathized with President So- 
louque in his abortive attempt to carry out the 
" Democratic " policy of territorial expansion. And 
when General Geffrard was proclaimed President, it 
is said the populace demanded pledges that he 
would not pursue the policy of his predecessor in 
this regard. 

"It is not at all probable that any organized 
attempts of the Haytiens to recover possession of 



80 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

the Dominican territory will ever again be made ; so 
that henceforth there will be no more annoyances of 
this sort.'^ Such are the views and opinions of emi- 
nent men, who have given this subject some atten- 
tion ;* but in the opinion of the writer, as is gene- 
rally known, the destiny of the island is union ; — 
one in government, wants, and interest, brought 
about by the introduction of the English language, 
and by other peaceful and benignant mean ; such 
language, wants, and interests to be introduced by 
the emigration hither of North Americans, — some 
white, but principal^ colored. England, France, 
and many other independent nations of the world, 
have acknowledged and formed liberal treaties with 
the weak little Eepublic, but I hope you do not 
suppose the government of the United States could 
be guilty of anything that looks like generosity. 

God grant that I may never die in the United 
States of America ! 

* Within fifteen days a disaffection has been discovered near 
the Haytien frontiers, supposed to be the work of Solouque. So- 
louque is an imitator of Napoleon I. Napoleon went to Elba— 
Solouque to the island of Jamaica. 



LETTER III. 
I>oiM.iiiieaii It- e p ii.l>lic 



CORPUS CHRISTI. 



fETWIXT midniglit and daylight this morn- 
ing I was lying sleeping and dreaming under 
the halcyon influences of the lingering land breezes, 
when suddenly a harmonious sound of partly 
brass and partly string instrumental music rang 
upon the air. It appeared just as music always 
does to any one in a semi-transparent slumber — 
not quite awake nor yet asleep — when, as every- 
body knows, it is sweet as love. One boom from 
the cannon, and I stood square on my feet; and, 
as it is not very remarkable here to see persons 
dressed in white, the next moment I was out on 
the verandah. 

There went a jolly crowd, promiscuous enough, 
but apparently as light-hearted and happy as mor- 
tals get to be, and which to a slant-browed contriv- 
ing Yankee is a poser. They had thus early 
begun to celebrate what is called Corjpus Christi^ 



82 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

whicli, according to all fair translation, I should 
think means Christ's body. But any thing about it 
after that I am entirely unable to say. It would 
seem to require a good deal to understand all the 
Catholic ceremonies. Talk about their being igno- 
rant ! I never expect to learn so much while I live. 
All business houses were closed for the day, and 
Dominican, French, American, and other colors 
were flying from their respective staffs. Altars 
were erected in various streets, with numerous can- 
dles burning within, and bedecked with parti- 
colored flags and flowers. They were really pret- 
tily and tastefully arranged. In short, it was an 
American 4th of July, except this : to each of these 
altars marched the throng of people headed by the 
priest. The priest said prayers in "Greek." The 
people understood^ and all knelt down in the street, 
men, women, and children, but of course principally 
women. 

THE FARM OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE. 

A party* of us went out to see Mr. Smith, a fugi- 
tive slave, whose energy and well-directed enterprise 
had attracted some attention heretofore. He is not 
so fine looking a man as I expected to see. He is 
under five and a half feet in height, limps a little, 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC. 33 

and is altogether but little in advance, to use a most 
contemptible Americanism, of his "kind of people" 
in the States. He speaks no Spanish, and for that 
matter very little English ; but he has a will of his 
own, and a determination to do something, which 
gives him an advantage over half a dozen persons 
who go to school to lose their common sense. 

Mr. Smith was a slave in South Carolina ; was 
brought by sea to Key West, and there hired out 
to work for a Eepublican government. He and 
some other of his fellow-slaves, including his wife, 
took sail-boat, set sail, and after suffering almost 
incredibly from sea-sickness and want of food, 
finally reached New Providence, which he had pre- 
viously learned to be an English colony. He pro- 
ceeded to declare his intention to become a British 
subject, and went to work ; but wages being low, 
he concluded to remove to Dominicana and go to 
farming. He purchased a piece of land near the 
town of Porto Plata, and with the assistance of his 
"help-mate," (which in this country means a wife,) 
soon cleared the land of its tropical undergrowth, 
and planted it in corn and potatoes. In breaking 
up the ground he used a plow, a startling innova- 
tion here, but which produced most salutary results. 
A neighbor of his has since bought one. So great 



84 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

was tlie yield of Mr. Smith and his wife's crop that 
in little more than a year's time they have a house 
and forty acres of land all paid for, and a new crop 
worth over five hundred dollars, which will soon be 
ready for market. 

This may not seem very remarkable to any one 
who has never seen a sand-hill, nor yet been to 
Canada ; but to me it is a miracle. My object in 
mentioning this fact, however, is, to state that Mr. 
Smith also planted a few seeds of Sea-Island cotton, 
the product of which has been sent to New York 
and pronounced worth 14c. per pound, Now, 
there are numbers of colored men recently from 
the Southern States skilled in, and some who have 
made small fortunes by, the cultivation of cotton, 
at perhaps not more than eight or nine cents per 
pound, when, too, it had to be replanted every year. 
It produces here without replanting almost indefi- 
nitely, but it is safe to say seven years. 

The query is this : give half a dozen such men as 
Smith a cotton-gin ($350), send them out here, and 
would they not accomplish more for the elevation 
of the colored race by the successful cultivation of 
cotton, in eighteen months, than all the mere 
talkers in as many years ? 

The meanest thing I have been obliged to do, 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 35 

and tlie greatest sin I have committed, has been 
the registering my name as an American citizen. 
I presented myself to the United States consul 
(whose son and clerk, by the way, is a mulatto). 
The nice correspondence of Mr. Marcy was pro- 
duced, not with any evil intent at all, but just to 
show what- indefinable definitions there are between 
colored and black and white and negroes as Ameri- 
can citizens. I should like to find out how a man 
hnows he is an American citizen ! There are 
members of Congress who can no more tell this 
than they can tell who are their fathers. 

As for Mr. Corwin's talk about enforcing the 
laws, he may thank Heaven if he is not yet arrested 
as a fugitive slave. 

Since the above was written, I understand the 
courts of Virginia have decided that an Octoroon 
is 'not a negro. Now, then, if an octoroon is not a 
negro^ is an octoroon a citizen ? And if an octo- 
roon is not a negro, is a quadroon a negro ? 




LBTTEE lY. 

FIRST RIDE IN THE COUNTRY — PASTORISA PLACE. 

YANKEE is known by the shortness of 
his stirrups;" so they say here, and I do 
not know that the criticism is at all too se- 
vere. Except Willis and one or two others, who of 
the Americans know any thing about riding ? The 
Dominicans are good on horseback. In fact, it is 
their boast that they can ride or march further in 
two days than Americans want to go in a week. 
On the other hand, if " Los Yankees" had this 
country they would soon fix it so that a man could 
go over it all before the Dominicans got breakfast. 
Senor Pastorisa, (of the firm of Pastorisa, Collins 
& Co., formerly of St. Thomas,) who married a na- 
tive, is mounted on a cream-colored horse, (cost 
$800,) and wears behind him a sword in a silver- 
gilt case. Every male person wears a sword of 
some kind, even though it prove to be as useless as 
an old case-knife. It is an old, superannuated, 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 37 

hundred- jears-behind-the-age custom ; yet in some 
instances serves as their Court of Appeals. ISTo one 
disturbs you, and you are expected to be as well 
behaved ; but if not, the difficulty is generally set- 
tled at the sword's point, and there it ends. How 
magnanimous even is this rude mode of settling 
disputes when compared to that of the one-sided, 
blaspheming, defrauding den of thieves called a 
court of justice in the States! Coming from a land 
where men kill each other without warning, instead 
of a sword which I would not know how to use, 
I buy a pair of holsters for horseman's pistols, throw 
them across the saddle, and am ready. 

Kow there may be no pistols in these holsters, of 
course, but what is the difference so long as they 
are supposed to be there ? I take it as one of the 
grand lessons which the world's history teaches, 
that men are far more afraid of supposed and imag- 
inary dangers than of those they know to be real. 
The number of backsliding sinners and snake-story 
witnesses are innumerable. 

We were now at the base of the St. Mark's moun- 
tain, which rises just back of the town of Porto 
Plata. The so-called road was no road at all, 
There were little narrow trenches running between 
the rocks, fit for pack-mules, but scarcely wide 
3 



88 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

enough to allow' one's feet to pass. Up the moun- 
tain we came 'poco a poco. While passing these 
rocks the sun poured clown with an intensity not 
previously experienced. But I had never been 
an alderman, and was not fat enough to melt ; in 
deed, it might as well have shone on a pine knot. 
Ere long the sun hid behind a cloud, the thunder 
muttered a little, but pretty soon, as if by way of 
repentance, there came a restorative shower of tears. 
(Thank Heaven ! the nigger question vanquished 
the sun.) ISTothing is so calculated to make a man 
vain as a mountain shower. You enjoy its inef- 
fable sensations yourself, while below you behold 
the poor valley fellows sweating in the sun. Or it 
may .be they are drowning wet below, and you 
basking in the clear sunshine above. Either way, 
you are bound to rejoice and to look with contempt 
on the silly ones who make themselves miserable by 
regretting and whining over things that are in 
themselves unalterable, and need no change. The 
wise repine not. 

Over the mountain and beside a stream, with 
limes scattered plentifully around, we stop a mo- 
ment for refreshment. 'Lemonade is cheap, one 
would think ; the limes are as free as the water. 
Had nature furnished the sweetening as well, we 
should have had a river of lemonade. 



THE DOMINICAN" EEPUBLIC. 39 

Here country settlements begin again, called es- 
tancias, whicli, if you will get a blackboard and a 
piece of dialk, I will explain. Mark off, say four 
acres of land, clear it up— let the fruit-trees stand, 
of course — enclose it, but plant nothing therein. In 
the centre of this piece erect a shanty. This much 
is called a conuco. Now go through the woods, 
say a mile and a half, clear up four acres more and 
plant tobacco. The next year or two this will be 
gone to weeds ; you then (not knov/ing the use of 
a plow) go another half mile, clear up another 
piece and plant a new crop. The old place has 
gone to wreck, the new place is in its vigor ; but 
neither is in sight of the house. This together is 
called an estancm, and I should have said before 
meant a farm, but it does not mean a farm in Eng- 
lish by a good deal. 

At this point we leave the "road," and, under 
full gallop half the while, take through the wood, 
guided by a dim path which winds over the hills 
and down the dales with as careless an indiscrimi- 
nation as ever road was trodden by a prairie herd. 
L'Ouverture's feats or Putnam's celebrated escape 
would do to read about, but this was reducing the 
thing to practice. 

Five miles' gallop over a level plain — thirty 



40 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

miles in all — and we have readied Pastorisa Place : 
it is a perfect Arcadia. 

During leisure moments I shall probably look 
back to this day's ride and to these enchanting 
scenes as one of the " gilt letter" chapters of my 
life ; but at present, after a bath, the rapidity with 
which fried plantains, pine-apple syrup, and scorch- 
ed sweet milk will disappear, would do a dyspeptic 
Northerner good to see ! 

The property comes by Senora Pastorisa. She 
is, perhaps, five-and-twenty. Her eyes are as bright 
and dark as even Lord Byron could have wished 
them to be. Her complexion is that of a clear ripe 
orange. The place is extensive, containing say 
nineteen thousand acres, in a valley five miles wide, 
fenced in on either side by a spear of mountains, 
with a limpid stream running through the centre. 
Mocking-birds enliven every thing ; parrots and 
paroquettes go around in droves, screaming and 
squawking like a very nuisance. Back of the house 
is a grove appropriated to honey-bees. They swarm 
on every log. (There were certainly over one hun- 
dred swarms.) Honey is considered of but little 
value anywhere in the mountains, and is often 
wasted in the streams, the wax only being pre- 
served. This comes of having pack-mules and 
goat-paths instead of wagons and wagon.-roads. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 41 

Senor Pastorisa had informed me before of his 
desire to quit the town and improve his farm. 
All he needed was men who understood farming 
on the American plan. He has a plow, and in- 
tends harnessing an ox to-morrow to try the ex- 
periment of plowing. Now, it is clear that to plow 
the ground very successfully he will need at least 
a yoke of oxen — which he has, all but the yoke. 
This I would undertake to make, though I never 
did such a thing in my life, and always had a hor- 
ror of an ox-yoke, anyway ; but lo ! there are no 
tools. So Senor Pastorisa needs hands, but with a 
very little a priori reasoning it will be seen there 
are other things needed quite as much. One is a 
road. There is a natural outlet to the valley — ^there 
must be. The stream before the door makes to- 
wards the Isabella river. The Isabella empties into 
the sea, of course. 

I forgot to say Senora Pastorisa is " a little ting- 
ed" — the handsomest woman in the world. 



LETTEE Y. 
I>oiM.iii.icaM. Hepul^lie. 

VALLEY OF THE ISABELLA — ■CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES CHAP- 
TER ON SNAKES A CALL FOR DINNER. 



" Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle 
Are emblems of deeds that are done In their clime ; 
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, 
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime ; 
"Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine, 
And all save the spirit of man is divine ?" — Byron. 

fHEEE had been one or two invigorating show- 
ers previous to our ride down the valley of 
the Isabella, and so there remained a great deal 
of slippery clay along the narrow pathways, which 
paths lay usually on the very verge of some moun- 
tain slope, embankment, or more exciting preci- 
pice. To have come off with only one or two 
bones broken, I should have been perfectly satis- 
fied. 

We forded the river with impunity, crossed and 
recrossed it again, and finally came to as level a 
bottom plain as wheel ever rolled on. The valley 
of the Isabella is as handsome as a park. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 43 

The river itself is not so large as Longfellow's 
" Beautiful River," but it is much more deserving 
the name. Apropos, every old homestead has its 
particular title, such as the '' Mocking-Bird," " Hum- 
ming-Bird," " Crebahunda," and a variety of others 
for which there is no adequate translation. The 
legends attending them are frequently the most 
exquisite. 

Considering, therefore, the remarkable history, 
exquisite legends, and extraordinary traditions of 
the country, I am bound to say, should there be 
suf&cient emigration in this direction to produce a 
poet of the Hiawatha school, I should be sorry for 
the laurels of Mr. Longfellow. There are one or 
two parts of '' Hiawatha," however, for which I 
hope to retain a relish. 

The houses and cultivation along our way are in 
keeping with the estancias before described. The 
men are comparatively neat in appearance, find 
them where you will. The women are frequently 
good-looking, but seldom spirited. The prevail- 
ing question seems to be, How low in the neck 
can their dresses be worn ? and the answer is, Yery 
low indeed ! White Swiss is worn as dress, and 
when seen on a handsome woman is like Balm of 
Grilead to the wounded eye. The wife does not 



/ 

44 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

nsuallj eat at the table with, her husband. She sees 
that his baths are ready, and at times even that his 
horse is fed, and at meal-times either takes her plate 
on her lap or awaits the second table. This is not 
from want of respect on the part of either; it is 
their stupid custom. Should "los Americanos" 
ever run a stage-coach up this valley, and two or 
three of these fellows have to climb on top for the 
sake of giving one lady an inside seat, they will 
comprehend somewhat better for whose conven- 
ience the world was made. 

June 14:th. — Senor Pastorisa fell ill to-day, and is 
now lying in a hammock. This gives me an op- 
portunity to extol the hammock, which is too ex- 
cellent a thing to pass unnoticed. It consists mainly 
of a net- work of grass, netted something like a seine, 
twice the length of a person or more, and fastened 
at the ends with cords sufficiently strong to hold 
the weight of any one. These cords are tied to 
the limb of a tree or the rafters of a house, and 
there you swing as happy as any baby ever rocked 
in a tree-top. It is sufficiently light to be carried in 
saddle-bag, and is altogether indispensable. 

The senor's fever is also my excuse for pencilling 
down notes more minutely than I otherwise should. 
I can, of course, give you a description of but 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 45 

few things singl}^. The palm-tree ought to be 
one. This remarkable tree grows without a limb, 
smooth and regular as a barber-pole, from forty 
to sixty feet high. At this point it turns sud- 
denly green, and puts out two or three shoots. 
Around these grow its berries, which are used for 
fattening pork. Each of these shoots famishes 
monthly a rare peel or skin, which is used for 
covering houses, for packing tobacco, and for mak- 
ing bath-tubs, trays, and other articles of household 
furniture. The body of the tree is used for weath- 
er-boarding. It rives like a lath, the inside being 
pithy, somewhat like an elder. Its leaves are 
twelve feet long, and bend over as gracefully as an 
arch. In the centre of the top springs out a single 
blade, like the staff of a parasol. This was made 
(one would think) for mocking-birds to dance on. 
The most useful tree in the world, its usefulness is 
-excelled by its own beauty. 

The valley of the Isabella is a grove of palms. 

One cannot but remark how preposterous are the 
snake stories which the vulgar relate respecting 
the West Indies and tropics generally. The world 
does not contain another thing so brazenly desti- 
tute of the least common sense. In all this ram= 



46 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

bling tlirougli the woods, over tlie 'hills, and along 
the streams, the most harmful thing I have seen is 
a honey-bee — not even a dead garter-snake 1 

While on board a vessel off the coast one day, a 
sailor threw overboard a hook and line, and in the 
course of time caught a young shark. It was as 
wicked a little thing as I ever saw, and strong as a 
new-born giant. The sailor struck it over the head 
with a stick, when it snapped the hook and flounced 
around the vessel. In short, he killed it, and pro- 
ceeded to dress it for breakfast. 

" Going to eat a shark ?" I inquired. 

"Why not?" 

" Good heavens ! I thought they were the worst 
things in the world." 

" You eat duck," said he ; " what's nastier than 
a duck ? Shark's clean — swims in a clean sea." 

I afterwards tasted a piece : it was coarse, and the 
idea that its mother might some day eat me, made 
the thing disgusting ; but it learned me a lesson I 
shall not very soon forget. An Irishman is afraid 
to go to America on account of its frogs ; a French- 
man makes a dish of them. One man eats rats, and 
another cats. 

ISTow, to suppose there were no reptiles whatever 
in the country, or none peculiar to its bays and 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 47 

inlets, would be simply absurd ; and when we get 
to tbe coast, I should be sorry to miss seeing some 
lazy old crocodile sunning in the sand. Should it 
have seven heads, however, I shall very likely 
catch it, and send it straight to Barnum ; but if 
not, why, as Banks would the Union, let the snaky 
thing slide. 

Your ." Allergater in de brake" song may do for 
the Southern States, with their rhythmetical-and- 
stolen-from-the- African-coast slaves ; but to apply 
it to this country would disgrace the most idiotic 
"What-is-it" ever imported. Of naturally wild 
quadruped animals there is not so much as a squir- 
rel. Birds are without number. 

Stanley is himself again ! One and a half hours' 
ride, two fords of the river, (rising,) and we are at 
the mouth of the famous Isabella. The river Is 
here, but the town of Isabella has passed away for- 
ever. The delta is covered with mahogany tim- 
bers; two schooners stand out in the distance 
awaiting to transport them to Europe ; and with 
these exceptions— and with these alone, unless it be 
the -absence of the Indians— were Columbus to 
arrive here again to-day, he would not find a par- 
ticle more of improvement than was found here 



48 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

over three centuries and a half ago. A boat load 
of oarsmen coming down the river, the captain 
leading in a song, and all hands joining in the 
chorus ; a splash is heard on the other side of the 
water, as if broken by a fish or clumsy sea- turtle ; 
but except these sounds a death-like stillness per- 
vades the entire valley. 

To get a better view, you must cross the promon- 
tory (the northernmost point of the island) to 
where Columbus first landed. From thence you 
see the Haytien frontier stretching away in the 
dim blue distance, and the scene is enchantment. 

Over the rocks we go, led on by a Spaniard on a 
little bay mule, that climbs over the cliffs with an 
agility creditable even for a mountain goat. The 
senor's horse falters. One misstep, and they both 
go to eternity ! 

We are on the beach. My zeal to commemorate 
the landing of Columbus by gathering a few tiny 
tinted shells reconciles the senor to sit in the sun 
and hold my horse for a minute ; but I have no 
doubt he had rather see me as expert at gathering 
peas or picking up potatoes. " Ah ! H.," says he, 
" leave off writing books and gathering shells ; get 
married, and come to farming." So I will — all but 
the married. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 49 

But you will want to know what, after all, is the 
matter with the port. It is shallow. Vessels of a 
hundred tons burthen cannot get within as many 
rods of a harbor. In fact, the only question is, 
^why a man of Columbus' sense ever stopped there 
at all. It is not worth the pen and ink it would 
take to describe it. 

CALLED AT THE FIRST HOUSE FOR DINNER. 

" Come, let the fatted calf be slain," was com- 
plied with to the very letter, except that in this 
instance it happened to be a goat Nevertheless, it 
was worth the return of any prodigal son. 

The largest " senorita " had a dress to make up. 
It was a piece of light blue delaine, and to her, no 
doubt, was "superb." She left off assisting the 
old patriarch in dressing the goat, walked to the 
pitcher, took the cocoanut dipper, and filled her 
mouth with water until her cheeks swelled out like 
a porpoise's. She then deliberately spirted it into 
her hands ; and this was her mode of washing ! 
She then spreads out her dry -goods, admires them a 
while, folds them up again, and lays them aside. 

The four, and even six year old, running about 
the place, were as innocent of even a shirt as any 
son of Adam at his coming into the worlds 



50 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

We look out into the open, slab-sided kitchen, 
and see old and young sitting around on the dirt 
floor, enjoying a meal of fresh goat, winter squash, 
and plantain stewed together. 

Our dinner is over ; we bid these folks good-bye, 
and pronounce them the happiest set of miserably 
contented mortals the sun ever shone upon. Man 
needs excitement; he prays for ease. 

"We return to Pastorisa Place to spend the Sab- 
bath. Two or three days of rest, and we start 
fresh again for Porto Cabello. 

So ends the week — one at least in my life for 
which it was worth the trouble to have lived. 



LETTEEYI. 
r>oiiiiiiicaii Iiepn.]t>lie« 

ON THE WAY TO PORTO CABELLO — ANTILLE-AMERICANA EMI- 
GRATION ORDINANCE, 



." Here in my arms as happy you shall be, 
As halcyon brooding on a winter sea." 

— Deydek, 

§jj^|HE]Sr the saffron sunliglit lingers on the fleecy 
^W edges of these mountain clouds, there is a 
singular solemnity and peculiar fascination about 
them which can not be likened to any thing earth- 
ly. More than any thing else, the resemblance is 
that of a dark mourning-gown, lined with white 
satin and trimmed with silver tassels. 
. This reminds me that the sign of mourning here 
is somewhat novel. It is that of a spotless white 
kerchief worn on the head— a thing rarely seen, 
however, for the reason that people in this district 
rarely die except from sheer old* age. There is 
near us an old man (black) whose entire grey hair 
and bodily appearance indicate his being at least 
eighty. His father died only a year ago, and for 



52 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

some time before the aged sire's death it is said that 
fires had to be kindled for him to sleep by, in order 
to generate sufficient heat to keep his thin, chilly 
blood in circulation. His age was beyond his own 
knowledge. 

But the great object of life here seems to be 
that of eating. The first thing in the morning after 
leaving your hammock, you are furnished with a 
dish of aromatic coffee, strong and excellent as a 
beverage, and as little like the ordinary stuff you 
get at hotels as pure rich cream is like chalk and 
water. Bah! think of your dish-water slops, made 
of parched peas, and supposed to be West India cof- 
fee ! Oh ! nation of Barnums and egregious dupes ! 

Where circumstances allow it, not an hour in the 
day passes without something being brought in to 
be eaten. ^' This is an alligator pear — must be eat= 
en with salt and pepper." JSTow it is honey, pine- 
apple, mango, orange, banana, and even a joint of 
sugar-cane — anything to be eating. You are then 
expected to eat as hearty a dioner as ought to satisfy 
a man for a week. Ride a mile and a half and j^ou 
are asked if you are not hungry. You reply, 
"Ko, indeed." Cross the next stream, and "Are 
you not thirsty?" is asked. Say "No, indeed" 
again if you like, and you will be very lucky not to 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC, 53 

hear your admirable self inelegantly compared to 
some- kind of a goat. 

The climate of these mountains seems to be that 
of perpetual spring, 88° Fahrenheit being the warm- 
est day we have had so far. T understand, however 
that in September the heat is much more oppressive 
because there are more calms, but never so intoler- 
able as in the changeable latitudes. Sunstroke! 
You might venture the reputation of half a dozen 
"speakers" (a trade which is had in the States for 
the picking of it up) that sucb a thing as sunstroke 
would not be felt here until the world has wheeled 
as many years backward as it has forward. 

"We are trotting along on the way to Porto 
Cabello, I have given you a description of these 
valleys before, but passing a grove of rose-apples 
just now, (a fruit highly prized in the West Indies 
simply for its flavor, the tree being much like that 
of a lime, and the fruit hollow, something like a 
May-apple, lustrous as an orange, and flavored pre- 
cisely as a rose is perfumed,) I could but reflect 
that if another Eve were to be placed in an earthly 
garden I should pray that it might be somewhere 
among the hills of ISTew England, for, doubtless, 
then she would meet temptation with a masterly re- 



54 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

sistance ; but if placed in such a garden as might be 
made in this country, — with all the sins of the world 
before her I fear she would be tempted over again 
a thousand times. 

Stop a moment on an elevated point of a 
homestead called " Crebehunda;" behold the grand 
valleys stretching away between the mountain 
chains until lost in the green-blue sea which the 
glass shows in the distance. Dodging under branch- 
es, going sometimes head-first through the eternal 
verdure which, if possible, grows even more lux- 
uriant, in this way we ultimately reach- Porto 
Gabello, a place which proves to be, as previously 
understood, the grandest point for a port of entry 
on the whole northern coast of the island. 

These old Spaniards are all the time saying to me, 

" My son, you never look pert." 

" Perfectly happy, uncle," I reply. 

"Look long time away — studying." 

"Nothing, uncle — only an American." 

"Only an American? Well, what do they dif- 
ferent from other people ?" 

"Lay out towns one day, and build them the 
next ; own lands, and improve them." 

Now, this is genuine American talk ; whether it 
will be American practice remains to be seen. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 55 

Porto Cabello is now used to some extent as a 
point of export ; but the only reason why it is not 
used more extensively is, that between this and the 
valley there is a hill to be crossed, which could be 
made respectable as a highway by six sturdy hands 
in as many days. The country is ripening for immi- 
gration. Mr. James Eedpath, a talented English- 
American, and a most acute observer, recently trav- 
ersed a portion of the Haytien territory, and came 
to the conclusion that the entire island was capable 
of sustaining 20,000,000 people. There is not upon 
it probably one million, and of these the greater 
portion are in Hayti. The Dominican territory, by 
far the most extensive and desirable, does not con- 
tain much over one-fourth of a million, all told. 

I say the country is ripening for immigration. The 
Pike's Peak fever will ere long be exhausted. Then 
there is, probably, no more promising field for enter- 
prise than this in the entire new world. Most any 
point could be made to flourish by the opening of 
good roads. With Porto Cabello this is peculiarly 
so. Santiago is the principal interior town. It is the 
proper place for, and was the former capital. It is 
situated on the river Yaque, which courses La Yega 
Eeal, (the Eoyal Plains,) and contains about 12,000 
inhabitants. The trade of Porto Plata is kept alive 



56 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

mainly from this source ; but tlie mountainous road 
between them, over which nothing can be trans- 
ported except bj piecemeal on horseback, has been 
well-nigh the ruin of them both, Porto Cabello is 
sixteen miles west of Porto Plata. It shuns the 
St. Mark's mountain, and it is fair to suppose that, 
could communication once be established between 
this and Santiago, and were there the least facilities 
here for shipping produce, the trade of the interior 
would inevitably flow in this direction. As to the 
shipping interest, it was that which first turned our 
attention hither; for Porto Plata being an unsafe 
harbor for the winter, vessels had been known to 
make this port for safety. There are nine feet of 
water on the shallowest bar, and this once over 
there are two quiet bays, in either of which a mer- 
chantman could ride without an anchor. 

There will be an American settlement up this 
valley, — the nucleus where I now stand, and this 
their port of entry. Such a settlement would meet 
the encouragement of Senor Pastorisa, and, as I 
have reason to believe, of the natives generally. 
They have no labor-saving machines, which is, be- 
yond all question, what the country most needs. 
Think of a community like this getting on without 
a plow, a cotton-gin, a saw-mill, or anything of the 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 57 

kind. It is, verily, astounding. There is, of course 
— and it is certainly natural enongh — a lingering 
prejudice against wliite Americans. This may or 
may not be overcome ; but tbe natural question is, 
Are colored men in America competent to infuse 
tlie spirit of enterprise wbicli the country demands ? 
Let the common-sense worhing-men answer. My ex- 
perience with your " leading" would-be -white-imi- 
tating upstarts is conclusive. 

The route — and a cheap one — is from New York 
to Porto Plata. Agricultural implements are ad- 
mitted duty free. I send herewith an important 
communication, showing the disposition of the gov- 
ernment towards immigration. It is easy to see 
that (if carried into effect) it will mark a new epoch 
in the country's history. 

But before this question is taken into the debating 
rooms— that is, the pulpits— for discussion, it ought 
to be understood. If people read Homer's poetic 
descriptions of imaginary scenery, and come here 
expecting to find them realized, they will be fully 
as much disappointed as they deserve. There are 
times when the clouds rise slowly over the moun- 
tain height, with a blazing sun at their backs, when' 
the skies glow with a splendor transcending all 
conception ; yet it is not at all likely they will see 



58 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN". 

these mountains "go bobbing 'round," or "nod- 
ding," to suit the convenience of anybody. Must 
mountains necessarily rest their exalted heads 
against the bosom of the sky, as if holding constant 
tete-d-tSte communion with the stars ? If so, there 
are no mountains here — nothing but potatoe-ridges. 
ISTor will they be blindly dazzled by the excessive 
resplendence of the sun or moon ; nor will the moon 
make silver out of anything upon which it may 
happen to shine. Moonshine is moonshine, I sup- 
pose, the world over. American poets, however, 
may be read with impunity. 

"This is the land where the citron scents the gale ; 
Where dwells the orange in the golden vale ; 
"Where softer zephyrs fan the azure skies ; 
Where myrtles grow, and prouder laurels rise." 

IMMIGRATION ORDINANCE. 

The following is a translated copy of an impor- 
tant of&cial paper published in San Domingo city, 
June 9th, and proclaimed in Porto Plata, June 28, 
1860: 

" Antonio Abad Alfare, General of Division, Yice 
President of the Eepublic, and entrusted with the 
executive power, looking at the necessity which 
exists for facilitating the execution of the laws con- 
cerning immigration, defining the manner of mak- 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 59 

ing effective tlie measures wliicli tlie government 
may take for tlieir observance, the council of Minis- 
ters having heard, has come to issue the following 
ordinance : 

"Art. 1. That there be constituted a Board of 
Immigration in each capital of a province, and in 
the qualified ports of Samana and Puerto Plata. 
These shall be composed of fou.r members named 
by His Excellency, among those most friendly to the 
progress of the country, of the Governor of the 
provincial capital, or the Commandant-at-Arms in 
the communes, who shall be the president of them. 
Their secretaries shall also be of said commission., 

"Art. 2. These Boards shall meet at the seat of 
government in the provincial capital, and in the 
communes of Puerto Plata and Samana, at the 
Commandant-at-Arms. For their internal ordering 
and the more ready fulfilment of that which is as- 
signed them, they shall regulate that which they 
have to do according to utility, first submitting it 
for approval to the Minister of the Interior. 

"Art. 3. The functions of the Board are: First? 
to learn the easiest and cheapest way of bringing 
immigrants to the country, always communicating 
everything to the President through the Minister 
of the Interior. Second, to employ all means lead- 



60 SUMMER ON THE CAKIBBEAN. 

ing to the result that there shall only come as immi- 
grants the agricultural class, or those following 
some craft, profession, or useful form of labor ; to 
get information of lands belonging to the nation 
most suitable for health and fertility ; to have them 
prepared to furnish to farmers who may not have 
been able to agree with private individuals under 
the terms of their contracts ; to assign them lodg- 
ings and sustenance after their arrival, during a 
period to be agreed on, and to look after them 
with all the attention and care which it shall be 
possible to display ; to supply them with tools and 
other articles of use which it may be decided to 
furnish to them, and with the first stock of seed- 
corn for their sowing, taking care that everything 
be of the best quality ; to take care that those who 
agree with private persons shall be under a con- 
tract which insures the fulfilment of that which 
has been agreed with them ; to attend to all things 
which can give credit to this department as well 
within as without the Eepublic. 

"Art. 4. The Board shall appoint agents for the 
furnishing of victuals to those who shall be needy, 
taking care that in every thing there be exactness, 
order, and good faith. 

"Art. 5. All accounts of expenses which may 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC. 61 

actually be incurred must be examined and ap- 
proved by the Board, and submitted to the inspec- 
tion of the Minister of the Interior. 

" Art. 6. The office of member of the Board is 
honorary, and without pay, and they shall perform 
their functions two years. Those who perform with 
zeal and patriotism their trust, will be entitled to 
the esteem and consideration of their fellow-citi- 
zens. 

"Art. 7. The present ordinance will be prompt- 
ly executed by the Ministers of the Interior, Police, 
and Agriculture. 

"Given at St. Domingo City, the capital of the 
Eepublic, the 4:th day of June, 1860, and the 17th 
year of independence. 

"A. Alfau. 

"Countersigned, the Minister Secretary of State, 
in the departments of justice and education, charged 
with those of the interior, police, and agriculture. 

• "Jacinto de Castro." 



LETTER VII. 
I>oiMLiiiica,ia. I?;e p Ti.l>lic- 

PROPOSED AMERICAN SETTLEMENT— PICTURE OF LIFE — TOMB OF 
THE WESLEYAN MISSIONARY. 



" Thy promises are like Adonis' garden — 
That one day bloomed, and fruitful were the next." 
r: —King Heney VI. 

fHAYE scarcely time to inform you of an Amer- 
ican settlement really begun. It is near the'sea, 
not far from Porto Plata, on a large commonality 
or tract of land embracing about twelve square 
miles, (not twelve miles square,) having a water 
power running full length. The land being in com- 
mon is considered of the first importance, for by this 
means a small outlay of capital — say one hundred 
dollars — secures to the settler the grazing advantage 
of the whole tract, where not otherwise in use. This 
idea was suggested by an eminent gentleman of St 
Louis, and has been the custom of early settlements 
in Spanish colonies for centuries past. It will of 
course be subdivided whenever desired, each man 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 63 

taking ttie part he had originally improved. The 
principal settlers are from Massachusetts, one of 
whom, a Mr. Treadwell, (colored,) designs establish- 
ing a manual-labor school. Another, a Mr. Locke, 
(white,) who came out for his health, has actually 
secured a mill site, erected a small shanty, and clear- 
ed from twelve to twenty acres of land, as prepara- 
tory steps towards building a saw-mill. How hap- 
py will be the effect of such enterprise on a non- 
progressive people you have probably anticipated 
from what I have previously observed. 

The manual-labor school is, without question, the 
only mode of infusing a tone of morality in the 
country, or giving a foothold to the Protestant re- 
ligion. This has been tried. About twenty years 
ago a society of Wesleyan Methodists established a 
mission in the town of Porto Plata. The church 
still lives, and is, by foreigners, comparatively well 
attended; but they have not converted a single 
Catholic by preaching from that day to this. The 
reason is, the Catholics will not go to hear them. 
Yet, for the benefits of an education, about one hun- 
dred and fifty children were sent regularly to school, 
and there, by the "infidel" teachings of the Wesley- 
ans, they soon learned to distrust the ceremonies of 
their mother church. Unfortunately, about two 



64 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

years since this school was discontinued, and, hay- 
ing succeeded in weaning the people from positive 
Catholicism without yet embracing the Protestant 
religion, it seems to have left them with a general 
belief in every thing, which is, as I take it, the 
nearest point to a belief in nothing. 

The country around Porto Plata is owned almost 
entirely by the Catholic church, being leased, through 
the government, at reasonable rates to such persons 
as desire to settle thereupon ; but by establishing a 
school at a distance of seven miles, as above indi- 
cated, it would be entirely free from all such influ- 
ences. An English missionary is soon to come over 
from one of the neighboring islands to give the lo- 
cation his personal inspection. 

The sea view is divine. Along the shallow edges 
the rippling waves appear brightly green — greener 
than the trees — while beyond this, where the water 
deepens, the hue is a pearly purple — ^purer purple 
than a grape. In fact, the earth does not contain a 
comparison for the tranquil beauty of this transpa- 
rent sea. Some hours ago I thought to sketch it 
for you, lest it should prove, like so many other 
things, too fine to last ; but so it continued hour af- 
ter hour, and until the sun nestled in its very heart. 

So much for the future settlement. It may be 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 65 

called ''Excelsior," but at present I will call it 

" Crebahunda." 

This cool morning air nearly chills me. You 
take a bath and retire to bed at night with only a 
thin linen sheet spread over you. In the morning 
you are chilled, and resolve to sleep hereafter under 
more covering; but, of course, when night comes 
again you do not need any more. 

N'ot a morning, my dear H., do I look upon these 
fields of living green but that I think of you and 
your daily routine of ofS.ce duties. I take a seat 
beneath one of these forbidden-fruit trees while the 
land breeze is freighting the valley with perfume, 
the sun just peeping over the hills, and the white 
mists, beautiful as a bridal veil, slowly rising up the 
mountain green ; now listening to the voice of a fa- 
vorite mock-bird, and then to the softer cooings of 
a mourning-dove. A strange-looking little hummy 
perches on the first dead limb before me. Parrots 
squawk, and a dozen blackbirds chime one chorus, 
while other varieties chirp and trill. The whole 
scene is Elysian. Then along comes a sparrow- 
hawk, and choo-ee ! choo-ee ! choo-ee ! off they all 
go, helter-skelter. 

Of whom is this a picture? You are toiling 



66 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN". 

away, arranging rude manuscripts, at times al- 
most discouraged, but still toiling on in your close, 
hot rooms — and this for the good of your race. 
Well, Heaven grant they may thank you for it, and 
save you from crying at last, " Choo-ee ! choo-ee ! " 
But, ah ! — even worse than that — I am afraid the 
sparrow-hawks will catch you ! With me, the end 
of every thing is that of the birds — a melancholy 
aggravation. I have been entranced by these morn- 
ing scenes but a passing short Avhile, and will soon 
be compelled to leave them and take a lonely ride 
to the coast, thence to depart for a season. I there- 
fore stuff my saddle-bags with oranges and cinna- 
mon-apples, as I think this is wiser than weeping. 

An absence of precisely four weeks, and we are 
once again in sight of Porto Plata. " The moon is 
up, and yet it is not night." Some kind of a holi- 
day being at hand, men, women, and children are 
riding to and fro up and down the streets on don- 
keys, mules, and ponies of every description. The 
scene is truly picturesque. I could but remark to 
my friend the Protestant exhorter, the grandeur of 
the evening, to which he replied, "A man that could 
find fault with this climate would find fault with 
Paradise." I do not believe him, however^ for 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 67 

wHetLer tlie day and night trips along the coast 
have been too much for me or not, I have certainly 
got the chill-fever. 

This morning, July 7th, I visited the tomb of the 
Wesleyan missionary to whose labors here I have 
before referred. The following inscription will fur- 
nish the data to such of your readers as are inter- 
ested in the history of such missions : 

IN MEMORY 
OF THE 

REV. WM. TOWER, 

WHO WAS BORN AT HORNCASTLE, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND, ON 
THE 12tH FEBRUARY, 1811, AND ENTERED UPON 
THE MISSIONARY WORK OF EVANGE- 
LIZING THIS ISLAND IN 

1838. 

HE LABORED ON THIS STATION FOURTEEN YEARS AND A HALF, 

HE WAS BELOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM," AND 

DIED ON THE 25tH OF AUGUST, 

1853, 

UNIVERSALLY REGRETTED. 



LETTEE YIII. 
]I>oiiiiiiioa.ii lit e i> 11. "t> 1 i c 

SUMMARY OF STAPLES, EXPORTS, AND PRODUCTS. 

^ ^ ^ff ^-^^^ across a copy of Eonssean this morn- 
^ ing," said an American scholar, whom we 
had met before ; and he added, " I should not 
have been more surprised had I seen it drop out of 
tbe clear sky." 

There are but very few books in Dominicana of 
any kind, and no reliable statistics. The govern- 
ment on the south side of the island appoints cus- 
tom-house officers on the north side, allowing them 
little or nothing for their services. The conse- 
quence is, these officers pay themselves out of the 
import duties, and hence few returns are accurately 
made. 

In the essay on the " Gold Fields of St. Domin- 
go,"* to which I have previously referred, I find 
the following summary of staples, exports, and pro- 
ducts, which, while it is but little more than the 
* Published by A. P. Norton, New York. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 69 

reader will have already gathered, may serve at 
least to confirm what has been said : 

" The chief products of the Dominican part of 
the island are now mahogany, tobacco, indigo, su- 
gar, hides, bees- wax, cocoa-nuts, oranges, lemons, 
some coffee and some fustic, satin and many other 
kinds of wood ; but the trade in those articles now 
is not very considerable. There is a vast quantity 
of mahogany in the territory, standing in groves on 
the mountains and the plains, and scattered over 
the valleys and along the rivers and streams. The 
best mahogany in the West Indies grows on this 
island. Some of these groves and trees are truly 
magnificent, growing straight and to a great height. 
The best is now found inland, as it has been nearly 
all already stripped off the coasts and cut away from 
near the mouths of the principal rivers and around 
the bays, where it was more accessible and of easier 
and cheaper carriage to market. It has been exten- 
sively used for building purposes by the inhabi- 
tants of the cities, more especially by those of the 
interior, the lumber now used in the coast cities 
being carried thither from the States, and ex- 
changed for mahogany and other products. It is 
only of late years that the best mahogany cuts have 
begun to come to market, as heretofore they were 
4* 



70 . SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

carried to Europe, where tliej brouglit a better 
price. 

" Tobacco is now one of the principal exports. 
But little of it, however, finds its way to this mar- 
ket. There is a large quantity of it raised by the res- 
idents on the Spanish part of the island, particular- 
ly about Santiago, on the Eoyal Plains, and in the 
neighborhood of Maccrere. It is brought down in 
bales or ceroons on mules to Port Platte, and ship- 
ped on board Dutch bottoms to Holland and the 
Germanic states. There is also some cultivated 
about St. Domingo City and around the Bay of 
Samana. But the cultivation and traffic in this 
commodity compared with what it might be, were 
those fertile plains and rich savannahs settled by an 
industrious and enterprising people, is scarcely as a 
drop to the bucket. There are regions in the ter- 
ritory where tobacco can be grown equal to the 
best Havana brands, and, on account of the fecund- 
ity of the soil, with even much less labor. 

u There are still some good sugar plantations in 
the Dominican territorj^, chiefly about St. Domingo 
City and to the west as far as Azua, but they are 
'few and far between.' The best sugar is now pro- 
duced in the region about Azua and Manuel, arid 
ig of a YQTj superior quality. The country people 



THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC. 7l 

cultivate and manufacture, each on his own ac- 
count, and, in his small way, pack it in ceroons and 
carry it down to the coast on mules. Indeed, the 
term ' cultivate' is not appropriately used in this 
connection, as the cane grows up wild and sponta- 
neously from season to season, and from year to 
year in many places, and the inhabitants have noth- 
ing whatever to do but cut and grind it in wooden 
mills and boil day after day. The writer is not 
informed that they use the sugar- mills in use in 
other sugar-growing countries in their operations. 
It is easy to conceive what a source of incalculable 
wealth the culture of this staple there would be- 
come, if in the hands of a skilful and enterprising 
population. 

" The trade in hides^ compared with other pro- 
ducts, is quite important, which arises from the fact 
that a majority of the population pursue grazing 
for a livelihood, and the rapidity with which stock 
increases and the little care required in preserving 
it. Owing to the heat and abundant oxygen which 
the atmosphere contains, the flesh of the beef, un- 
less properly salted and cured, keeps but a day or 
two, so that the inhabitants are obliged to kill al- 
most every other day. This now keeps up and 
supplies the traf&c. Perhaps three-fifths of the pop- 



72 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

ulation of the interior country and towns are now 
engaged in grazing. 

" Compared also witli other staples, the trade in 
hees-wax is considerable. The island producing the 
greatest quantity and variety of flowering plants, 
shrubs, and trees, bees exist there in incalculable 
and immense swarms. The prairies of the West in 
June furnish no parallel to the flowers that perpet- 
ually unfold on these mountains, plains, and valleys. 
The writer has been informed by a gentleman who 
recently visited Dominica [Dominicana], that so 
strong and rank was the odor from the flowers in 
passing over the Eoyal Plains, that it so jaded his 
olfactories as to cause his head to ache, and almost 
made hun sick. The swarms build in the rocks, in 
the trees and logs, under the branches, and even on 
the ground. Those who pursue this branch of busi- 
ness collect the deposits in tubs, wasb out the 
honey in the brooks by squeezing the combs, and 
afterwards melt the wax into cakes, or run it into 
vessels preparatory to carrying it to market. Those 
engaged in this vocation are chiefly women. The 
trade in this article, however, bears no proportion 
to its production and abundance. They have re- 
cently begun to save some of the honey, and a small 
quantity of it has found its way to this market. 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 73 

The reason wliy it has not been hitherto saved is 
owing to the great cost of vessels to collect it in, as 
wooden- ware of all kinds has to be taken there 
from the States. 

" There are some exports of cocoa-7iuts, oranges, 
lemons, limes, and other fruit, all of which are both 
cultivated and grow wild in vast abundance on the 
island, and are not excelled by any in the Antilles, 
or on the Spanish main. The labor necessary to 
collect them, prepare them for shipment, and carry 
them to the ports is not there. From this cause, 
indeed; the whole Spanish end of the island lan- 
guishes in sloth, and its transcendent wealth goes 
year after year incontinently to waste. 

" There is some coffee, which grows wild in abun- 
dance through the island and on the mountains, and 
is collected and shipped. After the abandonment of 
the coffee plantations, the^trees continued to grow 
thick on them, and finally spread into the woods 
and on to the mountains, where they now 'grow 
wild in great quantities. Lacking the proper cul- 
ture, its quality is not the best, but the climate and 
soil is capable of producing it unexcelled by any in 
Porto Eico or any of the West Indies or Brazil. 
The writer is informed, however, that there are a 
few coffee plantations under culture about St. Do- 



74 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

mingo City. The labor of cultivating coffee and 
sugar in Dominica [Dominicana], with all the mod- 
ern appliances of civilization, would be absolutely 
insignificant compared with the rich returns it 
would bring the planter. 

" In addition to the staples and exports above- 
mentioned, the island produces a vast number of 
other valuable commodities, among which we may 
make notable mention of its lumber and different 
varieties of valuable wood other than mahogany. 
The pitch or yellow pine grows in vast abundance 
at the head of the streams and on the mountains, 
dark and apparently impenetrable forests of which 
cover their sides and tops. This lumber, with very 
little expenditure of labor and capital, could be 
brought down the streams during their rises almost 
any month in the year, to the principal cities. 
When the reader is made acquainted with the stub- 
born fact that all the lumber used on the north 
side of the island, except the little mahogany that 
is sawed there and at and about St. Domingo City, 
is carried there at great cost from the States, and 
sold at a price fabulous to our lumber- dealers here, 
he will measurably comprehend the undeveloped re- 
resources of Dominica [Dominicana] in that interest 
alone. Pine lumber sells at Port Platte for $60 per 



THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 75 

thousand feet. It has then to be carried back to 
Santiago, Moco, and La Yega on mules, where it 
sells for $100 per thousand, while those mountains 
and the banks of their streams stand thickly clothed 
with it, in its majestic and sublime abundance ! 
■ There is but one saw-mill on the Spanish end of the 
island near St. Domiugo City, and that not now in 
operation. They saw by hand a little mahogany at 
a cost of 80 cents a cat, ten feet long ; and when an 
individual wishes to build a house at Santiago, 
Moco, La Yega, Cotuy, or any of the interior towns, 
he has to begin to collect his lumber a year before- 
hand ! . . . Li consequence of this scarcity and cost of 
lumber, those of smaller means build their floors of 
brick and flags, and roof their houses with the same 
material or with the leaf of the palm-tree. Besides 
the pine, there is the oak, the fustic and satin 
woods, compache, and an indefinite variety of oth- 
ers. Some of the hardest and most durable vegeta- 
ble fibre in the world is to be found on the island." 
It may appear somewhat strange to the reader 
that mahogany should be used for building pur- 
poses, but so it is. The art of veneering is but lit- 
tle known, house furniture consisting generally of 
solid mahogany. 



LETTEE IX. 
Hepulblic of Hayti. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH GENERAL DESCRIPTION PREVIOUS TO 1790. 



" Think not that prodigies must rule a state — 
That great revulsions spring from something great." 

fHAYE given you Dominicana as a garden 
of poetry and the home of legendary song. 
Well, Hayti is a land of historical facts, and the field 
of unparalleled glory. Consulting one day with 
Mr. Eedpath, the talented author of the series of 
letters to which I have previously referred, he sug- 
gested the impossibility of any one forming even a 
comparatively correct opinion respecting affairs in 
Hayti, without being guided by a sketch of the 
country's previous history. Confessedly, therefore, 
much as his letters were appreciated by the readers 
of the Tribune he had not done the Haytiens 
simple justice. Since nothing could be so highly 
interesting, be it mine and the Anglo - African^ to 
undertake what the Tribune and its correspond- 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 77 

ent failed to supply. The following compilation 
will be taken from Eainsford's, St. Domingo, and 
Edwards' and Coke's histories of the West Indies, 
but principally, and when not otherwise marked, 
from Coke. 

There is nothing low or cowardly in the history 
of Hayti. Notwithstanding their conquests on the 
main land, the Spaniards were wont to regard it as 
the parent colony and capital of their American 
possessions. The buccaneers of Tortuga, however 
much they may have suffered or have been feared, 
can not be said to have ever been really conquered. 
In fact, by whomsoever settled, the country has 
shown one uninterrupted record of pride and inde- 
pendence. I regard this as an honor to begin with. 

The history of Hayti begins with the bucca- 
neers, a company of French, English, and Germans, 
driven from their homes in the neighboring islands 
by the haughty arrogance of the Spaniards, in 
1629. These men, collected on the shores of Tor- 
tuga, vowed mutual fidelity and protection to each 
other, but eternal vengeance against their persecu- 
tors. How well they kept their word has passed 
into a proverb. 

In 1665 the court of Versailles, observing a 
beautiful country of which some of its subjects had 



78 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

taken an actual thougli accidental possession, took 
the fugitive colony under its protection. It was 
not difficult for the French government to see that 
the island was in value equal to an empire, and it 
was therefore determined to enhance its interests 
with all possible speed. The first care was to 
select a governor who should be equal to the diffi- 
cult task of humanizing men who had become 
barbarians ; which important task was committed 
to D'Ogerton, a gentleman of Anjou. 

Hitherto not a single female resided in the 
settlement, to supply which deficiency was the 
governor's first care. With this view he sent im- 
mediately to France, and many women of reputa- 
ble character were induced to embark. From this 
time the prosperity of the colony fairly begins. 

The personal fame of D'Ogerton drew many who 
had suffered persecution at home to flee for safety 
to an asylum which his lenient measures had estab- 
lished in Hayti, among whom was one Gobin, a 
Calvinist, who, upon his arrival, (1680,) erected a 
house on the Cape, and prevailed on others to join 
him in his retreat. Time added to their numbers, 
and the conveniences of the situation justified their 
choice. As the lands became cleared and the 
value of its commodious bay became known, both 



THE EEPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 79 

inhabitants and shipping resorted to the spot, and 
raised the town of Cape Frangois to a degree of 
elegance, wealth, and commercial importance which 
in 1790 scarcely any city in the West Indies conld 
presume to rival. 

Considered in itself, the situation of the town is 
not to be commended. It stands at the foot of a 
very high mountain which prevents the inhabitants 
from enjoying the land breezes, which are not only 
delicious but absolutely necessary to health. It also 
obstructs the rays of the sun, causing them to be 
reflected in such a manner as to render the heat at 
times almost insupportable. On one side of the 
town, however, is an extensive plain, containing, 
perhaps, without any exception, some of the finest 
lands in the world. The air is temperate, though 
the days and nights are constantly cool. In short, 
it is another Eden. " Happy the mortal who firsts 
taught the French to settle on this delicious spot." 

The situation of Port au Prince, to which place 
the seat of government has been transferred, seems 
to have been unfortunately selected. It is low and 
marshy, and the air is impregnated with noxious 
vapors, rendering it extremely unwholesome. To 
this day it is commonly regarded as the graveyard 
of American seamen. In 1790 it had also reached 



80 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

an eminent degree of prosperity, and contained 
14,754 inhabitants, of whom 2,754 were white, 
4,000 free people of color, and the remainder slaves. 
So, also, near Port au Prince is a fertile plain 
called Cul de Sac. The mountains surrounding it. 
possess a grateful soil, and are cultivated even 
to their summits. The value of such lands is at 
present from ten to twenty dollars per acre. 

The town of St. Mark's, near which the last body 
of colored emigrants from America have settled, 
is somewhat more advantageously situated. It lies 
on the northern shore of the bay, on the point of 
an obtuse angle formed by the margin of the rocks 
and waves. Hills encircle it in the form of a cres- 
cent, the points of which unite with the sea, and, 
while they afford it shelter, leave it open to the 
breezes of the ocean, which become the springs 
of health. 

The land which the French had brought under 
cultivation previous to the revolution was devoted 
mostly to the cultivation of sugar, coffee, indigo, 
and chocolate. It is said that Hayti alone produced 
as much sugar at this time as all the British West 
Indies united. The prodigious productions of little 
more than two million acres of land were as fol- 
lows: brown sugar, 93,773,300 lbs.; white sugar, 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 81 

47,516,851 lbs. ; cotton, 7,004,274 lbs.; indigo, 758, 
628 lbs. But great as this product may appear, 
it by no means gives the entire amount, the quan- 
tity of tanned hides, spirits, &c., being equally im- 
mense. 

Immorality and irreligion everywhere prevailed, 
worse even than at present, if we are to judge 
from a poem written about that time. The West 
Indies would seem to be peculiarly conducive to 
this species of iniquity : 

"For piety, that richest, sweetest grant, 
Of purest love blest super-lunar plant, 
Is here neglected for inferior good. 
Torn from the roots, or blasted in the bud. 
Soft indolence her downy couch displays, 
And lulls her victims in inglorious ease, 
While guilty passions to their foul embrace 
Seduce the daughters of the swarthy race." 

This brings us to the consideration of the all- 
important subject called in America the "negro 
question," but which is, nevertheless, the immortal 
question of the rights of man. 

The inhabitants of Hayti consisted of 540,000 
souls, and were divided into three distinct classes 
—the whites, the slaves, and the mulattoes and free 
blacks. The term mulatto comprehended all shades 
between whites and negroes. The whites conducted 
themselves as if born to command, and the blacks, 



82 SUMMEE ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

awed into submission, yielded obedience to their 
imperious mandates, while the mulattoes were de- 
spised by both parties. 

The freedom they enjoyed was rather nominal 
than real. On reaching a state of manhood each 
became liable to serve in a military establishment, 
the office of which was to arrest runaway slaves, 
protect travellers on the public roads, and, in short, 
to "mount a three years' guard on the public tran- 
quillity." To complete their degradation, they were 
utterly disqualified from holding any office or place 
of public trust. No mulatto durst assume the sur- 
name of his father ; and to prevent the revenge 
which such flagrant and contemptible injustice 
could hardly fail to excite, the law had enacted 
that if a free man of color presumed to strike a 
white man, his right arm should he cut off. In fact, 
they were not much above the condition of the free 
blacks in the United States. " On comparing the 
situation of these two classes of men" — the slaves 
and the nominally free— says Coke, "it is difficult 
to say which was the. most degraded. The social 
difference was, without doubt, very great, but in the 
aggregate must have been about the same." 

Such was the state of affairs previous to 1790. 
What they have been subsequently remains to be 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 83 

seen. The whip of terror never yet made a friend. 
It may prevent men from being avowed enemies 
for a while, but it usually makes a deeper impres- 
sion upon the heart than upon the skin. The heart 
is nearest the seat of recollection, and will stimulate 
to revenge for a long time after the wound has been 
inflicted, as the reader of the following pages will 
abundantly attest. 

" Time the Avenger ! unto thee I lift 
My hands and eyes and heart, and crave of thee a gift." 



LETTER X. 
K.epii.'blic of Mayti. 

AFFAIRS IN FRANCE — THE CASE OF THE MULATTOES — TERRIBLE 
FATE OF OGE AND CHAVINE. 

fT was towards the close of the year 1788 that 
the revolutionary spirit which had been fer- 
menting among the French people from the con- 
clusion of the American war first manifested itself 
in the mother country ; and although that extraor- 
dinary event convulsed the empire in every part; in 
no place was the shock so great as in Hayti. 
. The mulattoes, notwithstanding their oppression 
and degradation, it should have been observed, 
were permitted to enjoy property, including slaves, 
to any amount^ and many of them had actually ac- 
quired considerable estates. By these means the 
most wealthy had sent their children to France for 
education, just as many are now sent to Oberlin, in 
which place they supported them in no small degree 
of grandeur. 

It happened about this time that a considerable 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. * 85 

number of these mulattoes were in Paris, among 
whom was Vincent Oge. This young man entered 
into the political questions relative to the people of 
color, which were then violently agitated, and be- 
came influenced with a conflict of passions at the 
wrongs which he and his degraded countrymen 
were apparently destined to endure. His reputed 
father was a white planter, of some degree of emi- 
nence and respectability, but he had been dead for 
years. Oge was about 30 years of age ; his abili- 
ties were far from being contemptiblCj but they 
were not equal to his ambition, nor sufficient to 
conduct him through that enterprise in which he 
soon after engaged. Supported in Paris in a state 
of affluence, he found no difficulty in associating 
with La Fayette, G-regorie, and Brissot, from whom 
he learned the prevailing notion of equality, and 
into the spirit of which he incautiously entered with 
all the enthusiasm and ardor natural to the youth- 
ful mind when irritated by unmerited injuries ; and 
he determined to avenge his wrongs. 

Induced to believe that all the mulattoes of Hayti 
were actuated by the same high-minded principle, 
he sacrificed his fortune, prepared for hostilitieSj 
and sailed to join his brethren in Hayti. 

What was Oge's disappointment when, after 
5 



86 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

evading the vigilance of tlie police and secretly suc- 
ceeding in reaching these shores, he found no party- 
prepared to receive him, or willing to take up arms in 
their own defence ! It probably might have been 
said of him also, " His heart is seared.'''' 

About two hundred were at length prevailed 
upon to rally around his standard ; and with this 
inadequate force he proceeded to declare his in- 
tentions, and actually dispatched a note to the 
governor to that effect. 

In his military arrangements his two brothers 
were to act under him, with one Mark Chavine, 
as lieutenants. Oge and his brothers were humane 
in their dispositions, and averse to the shedding of 
blood ; but with Ghavine the case was totally dif- 
ferent. 

Ferocious, sanguinary, and courageous, he began 
his career with acts of violence which it was im- 
possible for Oge to prevent. 

Finally the brothers of Oge joined Chavine in his 
petty depredations. White men were murdered as 
accident threw them in their way. The mulattoes, 
when they could not be induced to join them, were 
treated with every species of indignity ; and one 
man in particular, who excused himself from join- 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. ' 87 

ing them on account of his family, was murdered, 
together with his wife and six children. 

The inhabitants of Cape Francois, alarmed at 
these outrages which they imagined to be committed 
b}^ a far more formidable body of revolters than 
really existed, immediately took measures for their 
suppression. 

A detachment of regular troops invested the 
mulatto camp, which, after making an ineffectual 
resistance in which many were killed, was entirely 
broken up. The whole troop dispersed. Oge and 
his ofS.cers took refuge in the Spanish part of the 
island. The principal part of their ammunition and 
military stores immediately fell into the hands of 
the victors. 

The triumphs of the whites over the vanquished 
insurgents were such that they proceeded from vic- 
tory to insult. The lower orders especially dis- 
covered such pointed animosity against the mulat- 
toes at large that they became seriously alarmed for 
their personal safety, and many regretted not 
having joined the now vanquished party. 

Urged by fatal necessity many resorted to arms, 
so that several camps were formed in different parts 
of the colony far more formidable than that of Oge. 



88 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

At this time EiGAUD, the mulatto general, makes 
his appearance, declaring that no peace would be 
permanent "until one class of people had extermina- 
ted the other." 

In the midst of these commotions wHch presaged 
an approaching tempest, Peynier, the governor, re- 
signed Ms office in favor of general Blanchelande. 
The first step of the latter was directed towards the 
unfortunate Oge. The demand made on the Spanish 
governor for his arrest was peremptory and de- 
cisive. Twenty of Oge's followers, including one 
of his brothers, were speedily hung ; but a severer 
fate awaited Oge and Chavine. They were con- 
demned to be broken alive, and were actually left 
to perish in that terrible condition on the wheel. 

Chavine, the hardy lieutenant, met his destiny 
with, that undaunted firmness which had marked 
his life. He bore the extremity of his torture with 
an invincible resolution, without betraying the least 
symptom of fear, and without uttering a groan at 
his excruciating sufferings. 

With Oge the case was widely different. When 
sentence was passed upon him his fortitude aban- 
doned him altogether. He wept ; he solicited mercy 
in terms of the most abject humility ; but in the 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 89 

end lie was hurried to execution, and left to ex- 
pire in the most horrid agonies. 

Previous to this the National Assembly in France, 
which had originally declared " That all men are 
born free, and continue free and equal as to their 
rights," had to contradict this in order to pacify 
the planters, and to declare it was not their inten= 
tion to interfere with the local institutions of the 
colonies. 

It so happened, however, that with this decree 
they also transmitted to the governor a chapter of 
instructions, one of the articles of which expressed 
this sentiment : " That every person of the age of 
twenty -five and upwards, possessing property or 
having resided two years in the colony and paid 
taxes, should be permitted to vote in the formation 
of the colonial assembly." It was like the Dred 
Scott decision of the United States, for the ques- 
tion immediately arose whether the term " every 
person " included the mulattoes. 

It was just at this time that intelligence of the 
tragical death of Oge, who had been previously well 
known in Paris, reached that city. The public mind 
was instantly inflamed against the planters almost to 
madness, and for some time those in the city were un- 



90 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

able to appear in public, either to apologize for tbeir 
brethren or defend themselves. To keep alive that 
resentment which had been awakened, a tragedy was 
founded on the dying agonies of Oge, and the thea- 
tres of Paris conveyed the tidings of his exit to all 
classes of people. 

Brissot and Gregorie, two well-known reformers, 
availing themselves of this auspicious moment, 
brought the case of the mulattoes before the Na- 
tional Assembly. 

This was early in May, 1791. The eloquence 
displayed by Gregorie on this occasion was most 
marvellous, enforced by such facts as a state of 
slavery and degradation rarely fails to produce, 
and the whole finished by an affecting recital of 
the death of Oge. 

Amid the ardor with which he pleaded the 
cause of the mulattoes, a few persons attempted to 
stem the torrent by predicting the ruin of the 
colonies. " Perish the colonies ^''^ exclaimed Eobes- 
pierre in reply, " rather than sacrifice one iota of 
our principles." The sentiment was reiterated 
amid the applauses of an enthusiastic Senate, and 
the National Assembl}^, on the 15th day of May, 
decreed that the people of color born of free 
parents should thenceforth have all the rights of 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 91 

French citizens ; that thej should have votes in 
the choice of representatives, and be eligible to 
seats both in the parochial and colonial assemblies. 

The colonial representatives no sooner heard that 
these decisive steps were taken than thej declared 
their office useless, and resolved to decline any 
further attempts to preserve the colonies. 

The colonists who resided in the mother country 
heard the decree with indignation and amazement. 
But in the island, as soon as it became known, the 
planters sunk into a state of torpor, and appeared 
for a moment as if petrified into statues. All local 
feuds between the whites were immediately sus- 
pended, and all animosities swallowed up by what 
appeared to them an evil of unparalleled magnitude. 
The civic oath was treated with contempt ; tumult 
succeeded subordination ; proposals were made to 
hoist the British colors ; and resolutions crowded on 
resolutions to renounce at once all connection with 
a country that had placed the rights of the mulat- 
toes on an equal footing with their own. 

The mulattoes, who became criminal from their 
color, were obliged to flee in every direction. Their 
homes afforded them no protection. They were 
threatened with shooting in the street; and thus 
menaced by destruction, they began to arm in every 
direction. 



92 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

The governor beheld this commotion with palsied 
solicitude. He foresaw the evils that must burst 
upon the colony, without having it in his power to 
apply either a preventive or a remedy. 

But a far more awful mine, surcharged with com- 
bustibles, and destined to appall all parties, was 
at that moment on the very eve of an explosion. 



LETTEE XI. 
liepnlblic of* Hayti. 

A CHAPTER OF HORRORS (WHICH THE DELICATE READER MAY, 
IF HE CHOOSES, OMITJ. 

" Out breaks at once the far-resounding cry—' 
The standard of revolt is raised on high." 

MOISTGr the various transactions whicli liad 
taken place, both in the island and in France, 
little or no attention had been paid to the 
condition of the slaves. It is true an abolition 
society had been early established in Paris, called 
the "Friends of the Blacks," {Amis des noirs.) 
Their sufferings had also been used to give energy 
to a harangue, or to enforce the necessity of gen- 
eral reformation, but their situation was passed 
over by the legislative assemblies as a subject that 
admitted of no redress. 

These, sensible of their condition, numbers, and 
powers, resolved, amid the general confusion, to 
assert their freedom and legislate for themselves. 
5* 



94 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

They had learned from the contentions of both 
their white and colored masters that violence was 
necessary to prosperity. Such measures they 
adopted; and no sooner adopted than they were 
carried into effect. 

It was early on the morning of August 23, 1791, 
that a confused report began to circulate through, 
the capital that the negroes were not only in a state 
of insurrection, but that they were consuming with 
fire what the sword had spared. A report so 
serious could not fail to spread the greatest alarm. 
It was credited by the timid, despised by the fear- 
less, but was deeply interesting to all. Pretty soon 
the arrival of a few half-breathless fugitives con- 
firmed the melancholy news ; they had j ust escaped 
from the scene of desolation and carnage, and has- 
tened to the town to beg protection and to commu- 
nicate the fatal particulars. From these white fugi- 
tives (the scale had turned) it was learned that the 
insurrection was begun by the slaves on a plantation 
not more than nine miles from Cape Frangois. 

There, it appeared, in the dead of night, they had 
assembled together and massacred every branch of 
their master's family that fell in their way. From 
thence they proceeded to the next plantation, where 
they acted in the same manner, and augmented their 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 95 

number witli the slaves whom the murder of their 
master had apparently liberated. And so on they 
went, from plantation to plantation, recruiting their 
forces in proportion to the murders they commit- 
ted, and extending their desolations as their num- 
bers increased. 

From the plantation of M. Flaville they carried 
off the wife and three daughters, and three daugh- 
ters of the attorney, after murdering . him before 
their faces. In many cases the white women were 
rescued from death with the most horrid intentions, 
and were actually compelled to suffer violation on 
the mangled bodies of their dead husbands^ friends^ or 
hrothers^ to whom they had been clinging for protection. 

The return of daylight, for which those who had 
escaped the sword anxiously waited, to show them 
the full extent of their danger, was anticipated by 
the flames that now began to kindle in every direc- 
tion. This was the work of but a single half night. 
The shrieks of the inhabitants and the spreading of 
the conflagration, occasionally intercepted by col- 
umns of smoke which had begun to ascend, formed 
the mournful spectacle which appeared through a 
vast extent of country when the day began to dawn. 

It was now obvious that the insurrection was gen- 
eral, and that the measures of the revolted slaves 



yo SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

had been skilfully preconcerted, on whicli account the 
revolt became more dangerous. The blacks on the 
plantation of M. Gallifet had been treated with such 
remarkable tenderness that their happiness became 
proverbial. These, it was presumed, would retain 
their fidelity. So M. Odelac, the agent of the plan- 
tation, and member of the General Assembly, de- 
termined to visit them at the head of a few soldiers, 
and to lead them against the insurgents. When he 
got there he found they had not only raised the en- 
sign of rebellion, but had actually erected for their 
standard the body of a white infant, which they 
had impaled on a stake. So much for happy ne- 
groes and contented slaves ! Ketreat was impossi- 
ble. M. Odelac himself was soon surrounded and 
murdered without mercy, his companions sharing 
the same fate — all except two or three, who escaped 
by instant flight only to add their tale to the list 
of woes. 

The governor proceeded immediately to put the 
towns in a proper state of defence ; and all the in- 
habitants were, without distinction, called upon to 
labor at the fortifications. Messengers were des- 
patched to all the remotest places, both by sea and 
land, to which any communication was open, to ap- 
prise the people of their danger, and to give them 



THE EEPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 97 

timely notice to prepare for the defence. Through 
the promptitude with which the whites acted, a 
chain of posts was instantly established and several 
camps were formed. 

But the revolt was now found to be even greater 
than imagined. The slaves, as if impelled by 
one common instinct, seemed to catch the conta- 
gion without any visible communication. Danger 
became every day more and more imminent, so 
much so that an embargo was laid on all the ship- 
ping, to secure the inhabitants a retreat in case of 
the last extremity. Among the different camps 
which had been formed by the whites were one at 
Grrande Eiviere and another at Dondon. Both of 
these were attacked" by a body of negroes and mu- 
lattoes, and a long and bloody contest ensued. In 
the end the whites were routed and compelled to 
take refage in the Spanish dominions. Through- 
out the succeeding night carnage and conflagration 
went hand in hand, the latter of which became 
more terrible from the glare which it cast on the 
surrounding darkness. Nothing remained to coun- 
teract the ravages of the insurgents but the shrieks 
and tears of the suffering fugitives, and these were 
usually permitted to plead in vain. 

The instances of barbarity which followed are 



98 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

too horrible for description ; nor sliould we be in- 
duced to transcribe any portion of tbem, were it 
not that many persons regard sucb statements as 
mere assertions unless accompanied by a record of 
tbe unbappy facts. The recital of a few, however, 
will set all doubts forever at re^t. 

"They seized," says Edwards, "a Mr. Blenan, 
an of&cer of the police, and, having nailed him alive 
to one of the gates of his plantation, chopped off 
his limbs one by one with an axe." 

" A poor man named Eobert, a carpenter, by en- 
deavoring to conceal himself from the notice of the 
rebels, was discovered in his hiding-place, and the 
negroes declared that he should die in the way of 
his occupation ; accordingly they laid him between 
two boards, and deliberately sawed him asunder." 

" All the white and even the mulatto children 
whose fathers had not joined in the revolt were 
murdered without exception, frequently before their 
eyes, or while clinging to the bosoms of their moth- 
ers. Young women of all ranks were first violated 
by whole troops of barbarians, and then, generally, . 
put to death. Some of them, indeed, were reserved 
for the gratification of the lust of the leaders, and 
others had their eyes scooped out with a knife." 

" In the parish of Timbe, at a place called the 



THE EEPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 99 

Great Eavine, a venerable planter, the father of two 
beantiful young ladies, was tied down by the sav- 
age ringleader of a band, who ravished the eldest 
daughter in his presence, and delivered over the 
youngest to one of his followers. Their passions 
being satisfied, they slaughtered both the father 
and the daughters." 

'' M. Cardineau, a planter of Grande Eiviere, had 
two natural sons by a black woman. He had man- 
umitted them in their infancy, and treated them 
with great tenderness. They both joined the re- 
volt ; and when their father endeavored to divert 
them from their purpose by soothing language and 
pecuniary offers, they took his money, and then 
stabbed him to the heart." 

Amid the worst of these scenes Mr. Edwards 
records that solitary and affecting instance wherein 
a soft-hearted slave saved the lives of his master 
and family by sending them adrift on the river by 
moonlight.* This is generally admitted to have 
been the Washington of Hayti, Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture. 

At this time, also, the mulatto chiefs, actuated by 
different motives, not only refused to adopt such 

* For a beautiful description of this affecting scene, see Whit- 
tier's "Toussaint L'Ouverture." 



100 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

horrid measures, but particularly declared their 
only intention in taking up arms was to support 
the decree of the 15th of May, which had acknowl- 
edged their rights, of which the whites had been 
endeavoring to deprive them, and proposed to lay 
down their arms provided the whites acknowledged 
them as equals. 

The white inhabitants gladly availed themselves 
of an overture which, though it pressed hard on 
their ambitioD, afforded a prospect for deliverance 
from impending danger. A truce immediately took 
place, which they denominated a concordat An 
act of oblivion was passed on both sides over all 
that had passed, the whites admitting in all its force 
the decree giving equality to the mulattoes. The 
sentence passed upon Oge and the execution of it 
the concordat declared to be infamous, and to be 
" held in everlasting execration." So much for Oge. 

Both parties now appeared to be equally satisfied, 
and a mutual confidence took place. Nothing re- 
mained but to induce the mulattoes to join the 
whites in the reduction of the negroes, now in a 
most formidable state of insurrection. To this the 
mulattoes consented. New troops were introduced 
from Erance. The whites were elated, and perfect 
tranquillity stood for a moment on the very tiptoe 
of anticipation. 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. . 101 

But the great lesson of tlie revolution was speed- 
ily to be learned. The hurricane of terror which 
was yet to overcome them was at that moment on 
the Atlantic, and hastening with fatal impetuosity 
towards these uncertain shores, 

UNION. 

It was early in the month of September that 
intelligence reached France of tbe reception whicli 
the decree of the 15th of May had met with in 
Hayti. The tumult and horrid massacres which 
we have noticed were represented in their most 
affecting colors. Consequences more dreadful were 
still anticipated. The resolution of the whites never 
to allow the operation of the ill-fated decree was 
represented as immovable ; and serious apprehen- 
sions were entertained for the loss of the colony. 

The mercantile towns grew alarmed for the safety 
of their capitals, and petitions and remonstrances 
were poured in iipon the National Assembly from 
every interested quarter for the repeal of that 
decree which they plainly foresaw must involve the 
colony in all the horrors of civil war, and increase 
those heaps of ashes which had already deformed 
its once beautiful plains. 

The National Assembly, now on the eve of dis= 



102 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

solation, listened witli astonishment to the effects of 
a decree which, bj acknowledging the rights of the 
mnlattoes, it was expected would cover them with 
glorj. The tide of popular opinion had begun to 
ebb ; the members of the Assembly fluctuated in 
indecision ; the friends of the planters seized each 
favorable moment to press their point, and actually 
procured a repeal of the decree at the same mo- 
ment that it had become a medium of peace in 
Hayti. 

At length the news reached these unhappy shores. 
The infatuated whites resolved to support the re- 
peal, which would leave the mulattoes at their 
mercy. A sullen silence prevailed among the 
latter, interrupted at first by occasional murmur- 
ings and execrations, and finally exploding in a 
frenzy which produced the most diabolical excesses 
yet on record. 

Eigaud's original motto was again revived, and 
each party seemed to aim at the extermination of 
the other. The mulattoes made a desperate attempt 
to capture Port au Prince, but the European troops 
lately arrived defeated them v/ith considerable loss. 
They nevertheless set fire to the city, which lighted 
up a conflagration in which more than a third part 
of it was reduced to ashes. 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 103 

Driven from Port au Prince, by tlie light of those 
flames which they had kindled, the mulattoes estab- 
lished themselves at La Croix Bouquets in con- 
siderable force, in which port they maintained them- 
selves with more than equal address. At last, find- 
ing themselves and the revolted slaves engaged in a 
common cause, they contrived to unite their forces, 
and with this view drew to their body the swarms 
that resided in Cul de Sac. Augmented with these 
undisciplined myriads they risked a general en- 
gagement, in which two thousand blacks were left 
dead on the field ; about fifty mulattoes were killed, 
and some taken prisoners. The loss of the whites 
was carefully concealed, but is supposed to have 
been equally as destructive. 

The furious whites seized a mulatto chief whom 
they had taken prisoner, and, to their everlasting 
infamy, upon him they determined to wreak their 
vengeance. They placed him in a cart, driving 
large spiked nails through his feet into the boards 
on which they rested to prevent his escape, and to 
show their dexterity in torture. In this miserable 
condition he was conducted through the streets, and 
exposed to the insults of those who mocked his 
sufferings. He was then liberated from this partial 
crucifixion to suffer a new mode of torment. His 



104 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

bones were then broken in pieces, and finally he 
was cast alive into the fire, where he expired. So 
much for the whites. 

The mulattoes, irritated to madness at the inhu- 
manity with which one of their leaders had been 
treated, only awaited an opportunity to avenge his 
wrongs. Unfortunately, an opportunity soon oc- 
curred. In the neighborhood of Jerimie, M. Se- 
journe and his wife were seized. The lady was 
materially enciente. Her husband was first mur- 
dered before her eyes. They then ripped open her 
body, took out the infant and gave it to the hogs ; 
after which they cut off her husband's head and 
entombed it in her bowels. " Such were the first 
displays of vengeance and retaliation, and such were 
the scenes that closed the year 1791." 

" A law there is of ancient fame, 
By nature's self in every land implanted, 
Lex Talionis is its latin name ; 
But if an English term be wanted, 
Give our nest neighbor but a pat, 
He'll give you back as good and tell you — tit for tat I 



LETTER XII. 
Itepiilblic of Hayti. 

TRAGEDY OF THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED — • RIGAUD SUCCEEDED 
BY TOUSSAINT TOUSSAINT DUPED BY LE CLERC. 

^^|E omit, as unnecessary to tlie thread of this 
Wy narrative, the contentions between the French 
and English, in consequence of the British inva- 
sion, from 1792 to 1798 ; during which time 
Rigaud was succeeded by Toussaint L'Ouverture, 
whose superior military genius had won for him 
the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the 
native forces. 

But there is yet another " lesson of the hour" to 
be gleaned from the history of this marvellous 
revolution. Treachery led to the fall of Toussaint, 

On the 1st day of July, 1801, a Declaration of 
Independence was made by Toussaint, in the name 
of the people. 

The ancient proprietors of plantations, who in 
the former insurrections had been compelled to 
quit the island and seek an asylum in France; 
soon found in this act of independence a confirma- 



106 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

tion of their former suspicions. Thej saw that 
all their valuable possessions must be inevitably 
lost, and that forever, unless government could be 
prevailed on to send an armed force to crush at 
once a revolt which had become so formidable as 
to assume independence. 

The complicated interests of commerce were in- 
stantly alarmed and awakened to action ; power- 
ful parties were formed ; a horde of venal writers 
started immediately into notice; a change was 
wrought in the public sentiment as by the power 
of magic ; and negro emancipation was treated in 
just the same manner that negro slavery had been 
treated before. Such was the fickleness of the 
French at that time, and such is the inconstancy 
of the human mind in ours. 

Bonaparte, aiming himself at uncontrolled do- 
minion, found it necessary to bribe all parties with 
gratifying promises to induce them to favor his 
views, and to enable him to introduce such changes 
in the form of government as he desired. 

The transitory peace which had taken place in 
Europe produced at this time a band of desperate 
adventurers, who, destitute of employment, were 
ready for any enterprise that could afford them an 
opportunity to distinguish themselves. Accord- 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 107 

inglj an expedition of 26,000 men was fitted out, 
at the liead of whicli was placed General le Clerc ;* 
and such was the confidence of its success, that he 
was accompanied bj his wife, (sister to Napoleon,) 
and her younger brother Jerome Bonaparte. 

But it was not to the fleet and army that Napo- 
leon trusted exclusively for success. A number of 
plotting emissaries had been secretly dispatched 
to tamper with the unsuspecting blacks, to sow the 
seeds of discord between parties, and to shake 
their confidence in Toussaint. Even Toussaint's 
children had been prepared, by the deceitful caresses 
of the First Consul, to assist, by their representation 
of his conduct towards them, in the seduction of 
their father. 

Le Clerc with his detachment of the French squad- 
ron, appeared off Cape Francois on the 5th day of 
January, 1802. General Christophe, who, during the 
absence of Toussaint, held the command, on perceiv- 
ing the approach of the French fleet, immediately 
dispatched one of his officers to inform the comman- 
der of the squadron of Toussaint's absence, and to 
assure him he could not permit any troops to land 
until he had heard from the General-in-Chief. 
"That in case the direction of the expedition 

* Rainsford. 



108 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

sliould persist in tlie disembarkation of his forces 
without permission, he should consider the white 
inhabitants in his district as hostages for his con- 
duct, and, in consequence of any attack, the place 
attacked would be immediately consigned to the 
flames." 

The inhabitants, trembling for their personal 
safety and the fall of the city, sent a deputation to 
assure Le Clerc that what had been threatened by 
Christophe would actually be realized should he 
persist in his attempt to land his forces. 

Le Clerc, regardless of this destiny, and intent 
upon the gratification of his own ambition, pro- 
ceeded to put on shore his troops, flattering himself 
with being able to gain the heights of the Cape 
before the blacks should have time to light up their 
threatened conflagration, 

Christophe instantly perceived this movement, 
and, steady to his purpose, ordered his soldiers to 
defend themselves in their respective posts to the 
last extremity, and to sink if possible the ships of 
the assailants ; but that when their own positions 
were no longer tenable, to remove whatever valua- 
bles could be preserved, reduce every thing besides 
to ashes, and retire. 

Le Clerc did not reach the heights of the Cape 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 109 

until evening, and then only to behold the flames 
which Christophe had kindled, and which filled 
even the French soldiers with horror. They be- 
held with unavailing anguish the stately city in a 
blaze, the glare of which gilded the ceiling of 
heaven with a dismal light. Their expectation of 
a booty vanished in an instant, and the only 
reward which awaited them, they plainly perceived, 
was a heap of ashes or a bed of fire. 

It was during these scenes of devastation on the 
shores that Toussaint was engaged in rendering the 
interior as formidable as possible ; after the accom- 
plishing of which he returned towards the ruins of 
the capital to discover if possible the real intentions 
of the French respecting the island, and to learn if 
any amicable proposition was to be made, which 
should secure to the inhabitants that freedom for 
which they had taken up arms. 

In this moment of suspended rapine, Le Clerc 
resolved to try what effect a letter addressed per- 
sonally to Toussaint by Napoleon would have upon 
the black commander, who was yet unapprised of 
its existence, or of the arrival of his sons from 
France. A courier was immediately dispatched 
with the former, and with intelligence that the 
6 



110 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

latter were with their mother on his plantation, 
called Ennerry. 

The wife and children of Toussaint, ignorant of 
the part they were to play, entertained, as the author 
of their happiness, Coison, the preceptor of their 
children, who was at that moment plotting their 
destruction. 

Toussaint, animated with the feelings of an affec- 
tionate parent, hastened, on the receipt of the letter 
and intelligence of the arrival of his children, to 
fold them in his warm embrace. He reached the 
plantation the ensuing night. When his arrival 
was announced, the mother shrieked, and instantly 
became insensible from a delirium of joy. The 
children ran to meet their father, and sunk without 
utterance into his open arms. When the first burst 
of joy was over, and the hero turned to caress him 
to whom he immediately owed the delight he had 
experienced, Coison began his attack. He recap- 
itulated the letters of Bonaparte and Le Clerc ; he 
invited him to accede to them, and represented the 
advantages resulting from his submission in such 
glowing colors as could hardly fail to awaken some 
suspicions. He perfidiously declared that the arma- 
ment was not designed to abridge the liberty of 
the blacks, and concluded with observing that. 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. Ill 

unless the proposed conditions were imraediately 
acceded to his orders were to return the children 
to the Cape. 

Toussaint retired for a few moments from the 
presence of his wife and children^ to weigh the im- 
port of their common supplication. His awakened 
reason instantly discovered the snare which had 
been laid to entrap him, and he therefore indignant- 
ly replied: "Take back my children, if it must be 
so ; I will be faithful to my brethren and my God !"* 
then, mounting his horse, rode off to the camp, 
from which place he returned a formal answer to 
Le Clerc. 

Unfortunately Le Clerc's bribery was not so in- 
effectual in other quarters. Many of Toussaint's 
generals were induced to listen to the promises of 
Le Clerc, and 

^' To sell for gold what gold could never buy." 

Among these was an officer named La Plume, who 
by his treachery threw a large district into the hands 
of the French, and also revealed to them those 
plans of operation with which Toussaint had en- 
trusted him. 

Such an act on the part of La Plume, in whom 

* Rainsford. 



112 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

Toussaint liad placed unlimited confidence; could 
not but cause liim to distrust tljose wlio remained 
attached to the common cause ; and who, perceiv- 
ing these suspicions, grew lax in the obedience 
which they owed to his commands. 

On the 24th of February a severe battle took 
place between the French troops under General 
Eochambeau, and those under General Toussaint, 
consisting of 1,500 grenadiers, 1,200 other chosen 
soldiers, and 400 dragoons. The position of the 
blacks was extremely well chosen, being in a ravine 
fortified by nature and protected by works of art. 
Eochambeau, availing himself of his local knowl- 
edge of the country, which he had obtained from 
La Plume, entered the ravine with as much address 
as Toussaint could have manifested, avoided the 
obstacles which had been thrown in his way, and 
commenced an attack on the entrenchments of the 
blacks. Toussaint was prepared to receive him, 
and a desperate battle ensued, in which both skill 
and courage were alike conspicuous. The day was 
extremely bloody, and the field which victory hesi- 
tated to bestow on either party was covered with 
the bodies of the slain. Both parties at the close 
of the day retired from the scene of action to pro- 
vide rather for their future safety than to renew a 
fierce contention for a mere point of honor. 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 113 

Eochambeau hastened with the remaiDS of his 
division to join the French troops in the western 
province, who were nnable to withstand the force 
of the black General Maurepas. The troops thus 
collected were put in action, and the doubtful issue 
of battle was expected to decide their fortune. But 
Le Clerc had recourse to his nsual manoeuvres, and 
Maurepas, seduced with the promise of retaining 
his rank under the auspices of Le Olerc, submitted 
to the French general without a struggle, and gave 
his posts into the enemy's hands. 

Le Clerc, finding he could conquer the blacks 
much more readily by winning their confidence 
than by swords, redoubled his efforts in this direc- 
tion. The number of his emissaries was increased ; 
their powers were enlarged, and they were sent 
forth as the missionaries of seduction to induce 
the unsuspecting inhabitants to put on their chains. 
Success in proportion to his professions attended, 
their exertions. Even Christophe was induced to 
believe that the late proclamations, in which Le Clerc 
promised liberty to all, were sincere. And, finally, 
Tonssaint, willing to prevent the effusion of blood, 
gave way to the representations of Christophe, who 
immediately entered into correspondence with Le 
Clerc. 



114 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

A truce was formed on the ground of an oblivion 
of tlie past, the freedom of the men in arms, and 
the preservation of his own rank, that of Toussaint 
and Dessahnes, and all the officers in connection 
with them. This proposition was made by Chris- 
tophe, and agreed to by Toussaint ; but Dessalines, 
dreading such an unnatural compromise, submitted 
only under protest. The proposals, after some hesi- 
tation on the part of Le Clerc, were accepted. 

Hostilities ceased on the 1st of May. 

ISTot one month past before Le Clerc seized Tous- 
saint, his family, and about one hundred of his im- 
mediate associates, and placed them as prisoners on 
board the vessels then lying in the harbor. Many 
of the blacks were ordered to return to their labors 
under their ancient masters. 

Toussaint, amazed at such an act of treachery 
and baseness, inquired the cause, but could ob- 
tain no other reply than that he must instantly 
depart. For himself he offered no excuse, declar- 
ing that he was ready to accompany his abductors 
in obedience to his orders ; but as his wife was 
feeble and his children helpless, he begged earnestly 
that they might be permitted to remain. His ex- 
postulations were of course urged in vain. 

Le Clerc, to rid the island for ever of a man 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 115 

whom he both feared and detested, prepared, soon 
after the capture of Tonssaint, to send him to Europe, 
and with him a letter of accusation at once false, 
criminal, and malicious. A letter more dishonor- 
able never crossed the Atlantic. Upon his arri- 
val in France, Toussaint was immediately sent to 
prison in a remote province in the interior, and 
entirely secluded from the society of men. 

Shut up in melancholy silence, in a dungeon hor- 
rid, damp, and cold, his suffering was not long. 
The Paris journals of April 27, 1803, say this — 
no more and no less : '' Toussaint died in prison." 

As to his wife and children, they remained in 
close custody at Brest for about two months after 
their only friend was torn from them. They were 
then removed to the same province in which Tous- 
saint had been imprisoned, without knowing any- 
thing either of his proximity or his fate. In this 
place, reduced to distress, they continued neglected 
and forgotten, a sad spectacle of fallen greatness. 

Such was the fate of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the 
Washington^ but not '^ the Napoleon^^^ of Hayti. 



LETTER XIII. 
I?,epii.l>lic of*Ha,yti. 

THE WAR RENEWED '*' LIBERTY OR DEATH" ■ — EXPULSION OF THE 

FRENCH THE AURORA OF PEACE JEAN JACQUES DESSALINES, 

FIRST EMPEROR OF HAYTI — PRINCIPAL EVENTS UP TO PRESENT 
DATE GEFFRARD AND EDUCATION POSSIBLE FUTURE. 



" This is the moral of all human tales : 
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past- 
First freedom, and then glory." 

— Childe Haeold. 

fHE violent and perfidious measures to wliicli 
Le Clerc had resorted produced an effect dia- 
metrically opposed to that which he intended. On 
the distant mountains, particularly toward the Span- 
ish division, innumerable hosts of blacks had taken 
up their residence and assumed a species of lawless 
violence. They ridiculed every idea of a surrender 
to the Europeans, notwithstanding the compromise 
which had been made with Toussaint and Chris- 
tophe. Even among those who had submitted, the 
sudden seizure of their brave leader and about one 
hundred of his enlightened associates, of whose fate 
they could receive no satisfactory account, but who 
was supposed to have been murdered by Le Clerc, 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTL 117 

produced a spirit of indignation which was poured 
forth in execrations portending an approaching 
storm. 

Le Clerc, seated on his painful eminence, saw in 
a great measure the danger of his situation, and en- 
deavored to counteract the impending evil. But 
death at this moment was lessening the number of 
his troops, and sickness disabling the survivors from 
performing the common duties of their stations. 

Dessalines, whose talents and valor, recognized by 
his countrymen, had caused him to be appointed to 
act as Greneral-in- Chief, resolved not to dally with 
his faithless foes as Toussaint had done, but to bring 
this ferocious war to a speedy and decisive issue. 
Impressed with this resolution, he drew a consider- 
able force into the plain of Cape Francois, with a 
design to attack the city. Kochambeau, perceiving 
his movements, exerted himself to strengthen the 
fortifications of the city, after which he determined 
to risk a general engagement. 

Both parties were as well prepared for the event 
as circumstances would admit. The attack was be= 
gun by the French with the utmost resolution, and 
from the violence of the onset the troops of Dessa- 
lines gave way for a mom.ent, and a considerable 
number fell prisoners into the hands of the French. 
6* 



118 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

But tlie power and courage of the blacks soon re- 
turned. The French were repulsed ; and as a body 
of them were marching to strengthen one of the 
wings of their army, they were unexpectedly sur- 
rounded by the blacks, made prisoners of war, and 
driven in triumph to their camp. 

With these vicissitudes terminated the day. At 
night the French general, to the disgrace of Europe, 
ordered the black prisoners to be put to death. The 
order was executed with circumstances of peculiar 
barbarity. Some perished on the spot ; others 
were mutilated in their limbs, legs, and vital parts, 
and left in that horrible condition to disturb with 
their shrieks and groans the silence of the night. 

But Eochambeau had to deal with a very differ- 
ent man from Toussaint — a man whose motto was, 
" Never to retaliate f^ for under cover of the same in- 
auspicious night Dessalines deliberately selected the 
of&cers from^ am^ong his prisoners, then added a 
number of privates, and gibbeted them all together 
in a place most exposed to the French army. 

Nor did the revenge of the black soldiers termi« 
nate even here. Burning with indignation against 
the men whose conduct had stimulated them to 
such inhuman deeds, they rushed down upon the 
French the ensuing m^orning, destroyed the camp, 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTL 119 

made a terrible slaughter, and compelled the flying 
fugitives to take refuge under the walls of Cape 
Frangois. From this period the French were una- 
ble to face their opponents in the open field, and 
the victorious Dessalines immediately took steps to 
crush them in the city. 

To add to the calamities of the French command- 
er, the war between England and France was again 
renewed during this period of his distress. Unfor- 
tunately, however, he remained uninstructed by 
past experience, and his cruelty seemed to increase 
with the desperation of his circumstances. Pent up 
in the city, from which his forces durst not venture 
in a body, he contrived to detach small parties with 
bloodhounds to hunt down a few straggling ne- 
groes, who wandered through the woods uncon- 
scious of the impending danger. These when taken 
were seized with brutal triumph, and thrown to 
the dogs to be devoured alive. 

Amid scenes and horrors as infamous as these, 
Le Clerc was summoned bj the fever to appear be- 
fore a higher tribunal to give an account of his 
deeds of darkness. He died on the 1st of Novem- 
ber, after having been driven from Tortuga, his 
previous place of abode. Madame Le Clerc was 
present at the awful scene; then, departing with the 



120 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

body for Europe, bade a final farewell to a region 
which had promised her happiness, but paid her 
with anguish and mortification. 

It was in the montli of July that an English 
squadron, not fully apprised of the condition of the 
French army, made its appearance off the cape. 
This circumstance completely overwhelmed the be- 
sieged commander, who, while the blacks were 
fiercely crowding upon him, was perfectly conscious 
of his vulnerable condition as exposed to the Brit- 
ish. He therefore opened a communication with 
the latter to learn what terms of capitulation he had 
to expect in case a proposition of that kind should 
be made. The terms required by the British being 
dreadfully severe, Eochambeau lost no time in 
strengthening the works towards the sea as well as 
towards the land, having every thing to fear from 
both quarters. 

Meanwhile the victorious blacks continued to 
pour in reinforcements upon the plains of the cape, 
A powerful body now descended upon the French, 
and, having passed the outer lines and several block- 
houses, prepared to storm the city in thirty-six 
hours. 

Eochambeau, from a persuasion that all would 
be put to the sword, proceeded before it was too 



THE REPUBLIC OE HAYTl. 121 

late to offer articles of capitulation, whicli, to the lion- 
or of Dessalines, bj foregoing tlie desire of revenge, 
were accepted, granting the French ten days to evac- 
uate the city — " an instance of forbearance and mag- 
nanimity," says Eainsford, "of which there are not 
many examples in ancient or modern history." 

The articles of capitulation which Rochambeau 
had entered into were communicated by Dessalines 
to the British commodore. The latter, therefore, 
awaited the expiration of the appointed time to mark 
the important event. When the time had elapsed, 
Commodore Lor in g, perceiving no movement of 
the French towards evacuation, sent a letter to Gen- 
eral Dessalines to inquire if any alteration had taken 
place subsequent to his last communication, and if 
not, to request him to send some pilots on board to 
conduct his squadron into the harbor to take pos- 
session of the French shipping. To this letter he 
received the following characteristic reply : — 

"LIBERTY OR DEATH! 

*' Head-Quarters, Nov. 27, 1803. 
^^The Commander-in-Chief of the Native Army to 

Commodore Loving^ etc>^ etc. : 

"Sir: — I acknowledge the receipt of your letter^ 
and you may be assured that my disposition to- 



122 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

ward you and against General Eochambeau is in- 
variable. 

^'' I sball take possession of tbe cape to-morrow 
morning at the head of my army. It is a matter of 
great regret to me that I cannot send you the pilots 
which you require, I presume that you will have 
no occasion for them, as I shall compel the French 
vessels to quit the road, and you will do with them 
what you shall think proper. 

" I have the honor to be, etc., etc., 

"Dessalines." 

Scarcely had Commodore Loring entered the har- 
bor on the morning of the 30th, before he was met 
by an ofi&cer of the French troops then going in 
quest of the English to request them to take pos- 
session of the ships in the name of His Britannic 
Majesty. This, he observed, was the only method 
left by which they could be saved from inevitable 
destruction, as the black general was at that mo- 
ment preparing to fire upon them with red-hot shot, 
and the wind, blowing directly into the mouth of 
the harbor, prevented their departure. 

The whole of the French troops and shipping, in- 
cluding seventeen merchant vessels and about 8,000 
soldiers and seamen, thus falling into the hands of 
the British, were conveyed to England, arriving at 



THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 123 

Portsmouth on the 3d of February, 1804, from 
whence the troops were taken into the interior and 
paroled as prisoners of war. 

Thus ended this visionary expedition through 
which Kapoleon and Le Clerc flattered themselves 
and the country that the inhabitants of Hayti were 
to be again reduced to slavery ; and thus, by the 
unrelenting determination of Dessalines, were the 
fearful thunderbolts of- war made to recoil on the 
heads of those who hurled them. 

THE AURORA OF PEACE. 

The '' Aurora of Peace" which Dessalines and 
his colleagues had predicted, Avas now ushered in. 
On the 14th of May following Dessalines departed 
from the cape, determined, like his unfortunate pre» 
decessor Toussaint, to make a tour through the 
island, to note the manners which prevailed, and to 
observe how far the regulations he had already in- 
troduced were enforced, and what beneficial effects^ 
had resulted from their adoption. 

During this journey the people, animated by the 
presence of their victorious chief, resolved to exalt 
him to the dignity of emperor. Whether any in- 
trigue had been used on this occasion by Dessalines, 
or that the offer was a pure emanation of gratitude 



124 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

originating Avith tlie people, it is impossible to say* 
This much, however, is certain, that the proposal 
was accepted without any reluctance, and in due 
time he was enthroned as Jean Jacques Dessalines^ 
the first emperor of Hayti. This was at Port au 
Prince, on the 8th of October. 

After the imposing ceremonies which necessa- 
rily attended the imperial coronation, the people, 
not forgetful of Him who had guided them through 
this arduous struggle in defence of those rights with 
which He had originally endowed them, marched 
to the church, where a Te Deum was sung to com- 
memorate the important transactions of this memo- 
rable day. From this place of solemnity the whole 
procession returned in the order in which they 
came to the government house ; after which a grand 
illumination took place in all parts of the city, 
amid the roaring of cannon and every demonstra- 
tion of joy that both language and action could 
possibly express. 

In tracing the narrative of this remarkable revo- 
lution, we have purposely omitted the invasion of 
the British from 1793 to 1798. Suffice it to say, 
that after a profuse waste of blood and treasure 
during five years, Grreat Britain was constrained to 
withdraw the remnant of her troops, acknowledge 



THE KEPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 125 

the independence of tlie island as a neutral power, 
and relinquish forever all pretensions to Hayti. 

Such, then, is a brief outline of the principal features 
in the history of this new-born empire, as recorded 
by Edwards, Eainsford, and Coke, and as given me 
from the lips of veterans yet upon the soil. The 
principal changes since are briefly these : 

The reign of the emperor Dessalines was short 
and turbulent, and his designs against the mulat- 
toes cost him his life. After the death of Dessa- 
lines, (in 1807,) General Christophe was made chief 
magistrate, and in 1811 he crowned himself King 
Henri I. Meanwhile the mulattoes having cause to 
distrust him alsOj elected General Petion, a compan- 
ion of Eigaud, to preside in the south-west, which 
he did with great leniency and to the entire satis- 
faction of his constituents, by many of whom he is 
still affectionately remembered. He died in 1818. 
Christophe shot himself in 1820. In 1822, Boyer, 
who had been elected President, united the whole 
island under his government. 

And this brings the chain of events up to those 
mentioned in our review of the history of the Span- 
ish-part of the island, to which the reader can refer 
for a statement of the principal changes from that 
time to the present. 



126 su:m:mer ox the CAEIBBEA^'. 

Under President Geftrard the conntry is liiglily 
prosperous, sucli confidence being placed in tlie 
goyernnient tliat its paper currency is preferred by 
tlie people to silver coin. 

Under Protestant influences, also, several large 
scliools, in wbicb liundreds of young girls and boys 
are being educated, promise in due time to present 
to tlie Tvorld a virtuous female offspring of tliese he- 
roic revolutionists, adorned by all the graces attend- 
ing the use of both the French and English lan- 
guages, and a body of youths sldlled at once in 
commerce, and in the sciences of government, the 
sword, the anvil, and the plow. 

The president desires the immigration hither of 
young men and ladies who are capable of teaching 
French, ''and also to undertake," he says, "the 
courses of our lyceums. In this case they would 
find emjDloyment immediately." 

It is difficult to believe these fields of natural 
beauty,, embellished with all the decorations of art, 
have at any time presented to earth and heaven 
such spectacles of horror as to cause even Europe, 
accustomed as it is to blood and fire, to stand aghast, 
and which will serve Americans as a finger-board 
of terror so long: as slaverv there exists. The 



, ^ THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. 127 

torch of conflagration and the sword of destruction 
have marched in fearful union through the land, 
and covered the hills and plains with desolation. 
Tyranny, scorn, and retaliating vengeance have 
displayed their utmost rage, and in the end have 
given birth to an empire which has not only hurled 
its thunderbolts on its assailants, but at this mo- 
ment bids defiance to the world. 

In the days of imperial Eome it was the custom 
of Cicero and his haughty contemporaries to sneer 
at the wretchedness and barbarity of the Britons, 
just as Americans speak of Haytiens to-day ; yet 
when we refl.ect how analogous the history of the 
seven-hilled city and that of the United States 
promises to be, that Hayti. may yet become liie 
counterpart of England^ head-quarters of a colored • 
American nationality, and supreme mistress of the 
Caribbean sea, she can well afford to leave 

" TMnars of tiie nitnre to Me." 



LETTEE XIY. 
Grran^ Turk's and Oaieos Islandls. 

AN ISLAND OF SALT — SIR EDWARD JORDAN, OF JAMAICA — HONOR 

TO THE BRITISH QUEEN A STORY IN PARENTHESIS — THE POETRY 

OF SAILING. 



4 



" Had ancient poets known this little spot- 
Poets who formed rich Edens in their thought — 
Arcadia's vales, Calypso's verdant bowers, 
Hesperia's groves, and Tempe's gayest flowers, 
Had ne'er appeared so beautiful and fan- 
As these gay rocks and emerald islands are." 

^|T is "Qsually no more to "dangle round" this 
sea than it is to cross Lake Erie. On this par- 
ticular occasion, however, I very willingly reached 
these shores, for the little schooner Enterprise in 
which we had ventured was not much larger than 
a good-sized yawl — certainly not over six tons 
burthen. The waves inundated us at pleasure, 
wetting even the letters in my breast coat-pocket, 
filling our faces at times with its slashing foam, and 
drenching us thoroughly to the inmost thread. 
But our schooner skimmed along like a sea- 
gull, and within thirty-two hours we were once 
again on land, dry enough for all practical purposes. 



GRAND TURK'S AND CAICOS ISLANDS. 129 

Nice little schooner — the waves might as well have 
undertaken to drown a fish ! 

There is not a natural hill on all Turk's Island. 
The shores are but a few feet above the level of the 
sea, and the interior is scooped out like a basin. 
This basin is artificially subdivided into innumer- 
able troughs or ponds, into which water is admitted 
by canals from the sea, whence it evaporates 
leaving beds of salt. This salt is then raked into 
hills, so that as you approach these shores you have 
the extraordinary sight of an island studded with 
salt-hills. 

The slight elevation of the land also permits the 
wind to pass uninterruptedly over its limestone 
surface, which accounts for the even temperature 
and perfect health of the island. The thermometer 
fell to-day from 86° to 77° Fahrenheit, which is the 
hottest and the coldest they have had it this sum- 
mer. But, as you will readily perceive, the 
absence of all barriers to the winds subjects the 
colony to the terrific ravages of every ocean storm 
that chooses to sweep this way. At this very 
moment the large and substantial mansion in which 
I am writing trembles like an aspen-leaf, and I am 
fearful that the few cocoa-nut trees and flower 
plants bending before the storm on every side will 



130 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

be speedily swept away. Heaven spare the verdure ! 
— the people can look out for themselves. Gener- 
ally speaking, the winds are soft as a sigh. The 
gale ebbs to a gentle zephyr ; the cloud passes on to 
Mobile, or wherever else it is bound, leaving these 
islands gayer for its shower ; the huge West Indian 
sun, apparently magnified to six times its usual 
diameter, sinks into the crimsoned sea ; the heaven- 
ly twilight comes on once more, and earth, sea, and 
sky are all once again tranquilly imparadised. The 
effect of these transitions on the mind is imperative. 
The most commonplace, matter-of-fact personage 
you have in America can not spend a summer 
around these islands and amid these scenes without 
having transitory poetic visions flash through his 
inmost being. But do not think I intend to dwell 
any further on these Elysian things. If you have 
a correspondent capable of describing them, send 
him along. A keen sense of my inability to do so 
constrains me to desist as from an attempt to com- 
prehend the Infinite. 

According to the theory of certain American 
statesmen, Turk's Island properly belongs to Hayti ; 
at least, it is on the borders of the Hay tien sea, and 
and is as much beholden to Hayti for its support 
as Cuba is to the United States. As luck has it. 



GEAND Turk's and caicos islands. 181 

however, Turk's Island really belongs to the British, 
and Cuba, it would seem, 

"By some o'.jr-hasty angel was misplaced.'' 

These, then, are a group of the celebrated British 
West Indies, and form a part of the governmental 
jurisdiction of Jamaica. It is with rare pleasure 
that I mention the latter fact, (since " next to being 
great one's self it is desirable to have a true relish 
for greatness,") for it gives me an opportunity to in- 
form you that the order of knighthood has recently 
been conferred by Her Britannic Majesty on Sir 
Edward Jordan, Mayor of the city of Kingston and 
Prime Minister of Jamaica — a degree of dignity 
never before attained by a colored man, as I be- 
lieve, since the British government began. The 
day of the Anglo- African in America has not yet 
clearly dawned, but it is dawning. A great many 
of the ofl&cers here, too, are colored. How strange 
it seems to stand before a large, fine-looking black 
or colored man, entitled Sir, Honorable, Esquire, 
and the like ! To save me, I cannot realize it, 
although I see, hear, and shake hands with them 
every day. 

But the grand source of interest to you and to me 
is, of course, the slaves manumitted by the mag- 



132 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

nanimity of tlie British government some twenty- 
six years agone. It is strangely interesting to hear 
them tell of parties making their escape to Hayti 
by sail-boats previous to the act of emancipation, 
sometimes sailing swift and direct, and at others 
dodging under the lee of the Caicos reefs until pur- 
suit had been suspended, reminding one much of 
our Canadian friends. The history of the escape 
of slaves in our day is as full of heroism as any 
history in the world. 

The neatness and cleanly appearance of the masses 
are actually surprising. I say it with all due respect, 
but, take them all in all, the colored people really 
present a bett^ appearance than the whites. The 
latter, however, for reasons which you will already 
have anticipated, are of course more wealthy and 
intelligent — for which reason, also, they have here- 
tofore been entirely at the head of political affairs. 
It is only recently that the blacks, who are in the 
majority, began to tread on their political heels. 
Some of the whites do not like to see this, but the 
easiest way for them is to allow themselves to be 
peacefully absorbed by the colored race in these 
regions, for their destiny is sealed. 

The Caicos Islands, like most of the Bahamas, are 
but a series of coral reefs, more extensive in terri- 



GEAND Turk's and caicos islands. 183 

torj and less sterile than this portion of the colony; 
but their principal products are about the same — 
salt and shipwrecks. They are at once "the resi- 
dence and the empire of danger." An American 
captain is now here selling the wreck of a cargo late- 
ly shipped from Boston to New Orleans — (Captain 
Elliot, ship Nauset, total wreck on North Caicos 
reef, July 7, 1860.) The population of the group 
inclusive is about five thousand, principally colored, 
who are remarkably industrious, if one is to judge 
from the rapidity with, which they load a vessel 
with salt ; and the essentially limited resources of the 
island would seem to admit of their being equally 
virtuous. Churches abound, and schooling may 
be had at the rate of three cents per week. Every 
thing is due to the English missionary societies for 
the healthy tone of morality and religion which 
prevails in these islands, and I must say, as I be- 
lieve, chiefly to the Baptists. 

But the great characteristic and most amusing 
peculiarity of these people is their inordinate at- 
tachment to the British, crown. A captain of a 
schooner on the coast (black, but thoroughly Brit- 
ish) one day overheard some reckless fellow speak 
disrespectfiilly of Queen Yictoria. About every thing 
he thought of or said during the rest of the voyage 
7 



134 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

was, " He insult my Queen," repeating " He insult 
my Queen" over and over again. They seem to 
regard Queen Yictoria with about the same rever- 
ence that the Spanish Catholics bestow upon the 
Virgin Mary. ISTor do I blame them for this, since, 
if England were crippled to-day, it would be dif&cult 
to say what would become of the world's humanity. 
It would be like extinguishing the sun ! 

Every thing is salty. You stand a chance to get 
some Boston ice bere, which is a rara avis in this 
direction ; but before you can get it congealed into 
cream you are bound to get salt into it, it would 
seem. A nice saloon, a good hotel, three churches, 
(English, Wesleyan, and Baptist,)' and a first class 
Masonic lodge — at the head of which is a colored 
Esquire — together with its excessive salt propensi- 
ties, are about the best things that can be said for 
Grand Turk's Island. Stay ! I forget the " Eoyal 
Standard," a weekly journal, to the editor of which 
I am under obligations, and from which I clip the 
following 

NOTICE. 

On the first of August, the " Eriendly Society" 
and the " Benevolent Union Society" of Salt Cay 
will march, in procession from the Society Hall, at 



GRAND TURK'S AND CAICOS ISLANDS. 135 

11 o'clock A. M., to the Baptist chapel, where a 
sermon will be preached by the Eev. W. K. Eycoft 
on the occasion. By order, etc., 

John L. Williams. 

So much for the land of salt, and a farewell to 
its happy people, the most that can be said of whom 
is that they worship Queen Victoria. 

(Let me tell you a story. In passing around 
these islands, we are one day with the Spanish, next 
day with the English, and the third with the 
French. It is sometimes diverting. I was sitting 
one warm afternoon before the door of a country- 
house, having a large green sward-yard sloping 
away to the road. The house was full of children, 
some of whom were, or pretended to be, studying 
their books. Well, suddenly there came pouring 
down a splendid summer shower, when, without a 
word, half a dozen of these little rogues, of both 
sexes, dropped their books, stripped off to the skin, 
and away they went sailing around the yard like so 
many water nymphs ! In five minutes more they 
were all dressed, sitting down with their books, and 
looking as demure as if nothing had happened. 
" So there hadn't," except that one plump little girl 
fell heels over head ! That is one way of taking a 
shower bath I never thought of) 



136 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

Bj the way, an American captain was this day 
looking at a number of hands, male and female, en- 
gaged in loading a vessel with salt. The women 
were employed holding the sacks, and tying them 
when filled. 

" That's a smart gal," said the Yankee captain, 
pointing to an ebon Yenus who was singing, danc- 
ing, and tossing the sacks around as merrily as your 
city girls ever '' pawed" the piano. 

A sldek-faced gentleman turned up his eyes at 
us, and inquired : " You lub dis gal, Cap'en ?" 

" Thunder, no !" said the astonished American ; 
"■ I don't love anybody !" Which remark, I guess, 
was not very far from the truth. 

The vessel which I am now on board of is a full- 
rigged, finely-finished English brig. Her sails are 
all set, the wind blows fresh, and she cuts the water 
like a sword-fish. The captain cleared $1,400 on 
his trip out, with a cargo of lumber from the 
States. How much will our friend Wm. Whipper 
make in a year running his craft up a Canadian 
creek ? The tenacity with which our leading 
colored men embrace that short-sighted policy 
which teaches them to confine their enterprises to 
certain proscribed, prejudice-cursed districts, is not 
only extraordinary — it is marvellous. 



GRAND Turk's and caicos islands. 137 

The heavenly night comes on. The clouds in 
the skj look like ships on fire. The rising moon 
trembles upon the silver-sheeted waves in the east, 
while the receding sun burnishes the west, tinging 
the waters even to our very spray. And thus, in 
this sea of glory, do we skim along. This is the 
" poetry of sailing." 

' ' Thou glorious, shining, billowy sea, 
With ecstasy I gaze on thee 1 
And as I gaze, thy billowy roll 
"Wakes the deep feelings of my soul." 



LETTEE XV. 

THE ISLAND OF RUATAN THE SAILOr's LOVE STORY — THE SOV- 
EREIGNTY OF THE BAY ISLANDS — -ENGLISH VS. AMERICAN VIEW 
OF CENTRAL AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 

Off Ruatan the New "Gibralter," Flower of the \ 
Bay Islands, and " Key to Spanish America^ S 

fT certainly takes the impatience out of one to 
travel very mucL. on a sail vessel. The dead 
certainty of yonr getting becalmed annihilates 
even contrary anticipation. But instead of mur- 
muring at the irksome roll of this spell-bound ship^ 
which flaps its sails as vainly as a bird with cropped 
wings, I, with genuine Spartan philosophy, will 
make the most of it by going visiting, that is, from 
the cabin to the forecastle. Here I take a seat beside 
an American ; (for, my dear H., nobody ever knows 
what true friendship is until they have been ship- 
wrecked, nor does any one conceive how mutual 
are the sympathies of persons coming from the 
same country, however remote their positions may 
have been, until they have met away from home, 



BRITISH HONDURAS. 139 

and been surrounded by foreign influences. Strange 
as it may seem, I have not met a colored American 
out this way but who actually celebrates the Fourth 
of July.) 

Instead of complaining of this ghastly calm, as I 
was about to say, I take a seat beside my friend 
Mr. Johnson, formerly of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
from whom I learned the following important story, 
albeit, a love story. Important because it shows 
the correctness of that theory which assumes this, — 
the infusion of Northern blood as one of the means 
by which the more sluggish race of the tropics 
is to be quickened and given energy, and also how 
these seductive southern zones induce persons to 
sacrifice kindred, friends, and home, in order to live 
and die under their soothing influences. 

The story is this : Some years ago he had sailed 
from Boston to Balize with a cargo of ice ; was 
taken sick, and the captain of his vessel, having 
made all possible arrangements for his comfort, left 
him in the hospital to recover. He did so, and 
was just on the eve of going over to Jamaica to 
get on board a vessel in which to return home, 
when up stepped an elderly man, who accosted 
him in English and also in Yankee^ to wit : "Guess 
you are from the States ?" to which Mr. Johnson 



140 SUMMER OK THE CARIBBEAN. 

replied, of course, " You, too, I suppose ?" The 
fact is, if you could not tell an American away from 
home by his looks, his salutatory phrases are as 
certain as an oddfellow's password. 

So Mr. Dickinson, the elderly gentleman, was 
from the States also, and nothing would do but 
Mr. Johnson must accompany him to his home in 
Euatan, there to spend a few weeks for old acquain- 
tance' sake, and meanwhile strengthen his health. 
He went ; but Mr. Johnson coming from the States 
had never seen so lovely an island, and certainly 
none so prolific as Euatan. He found oranges sell- 
ing for one dollar per barrel, and cocoa-nuts at a 
cent apiece ; and that after being rowed a distance 
of six miles. He found also that good milch cows 
could be bought for six dollars each ; and that 
upon one of the neighboring islands wild cattle 
were to be had for the sport of catching. On 
Utille, another island, also, almost in sight of Eua- 
tan, is a settlement of whites, which, though small, 
is in a very flourishing condition ; both being trib- 
utary to Euatan. Altogether, he liked the appear- 
ance of things exceedingly. 

Mr. Johnson not being one of your lazy visitors, 
soon began to make himself useful by assisting his 
friend Mr. Dickinson in whatever he might have to 



BRITISH HONDURAS. 141 

do ° and so one day, with pants rolled np to his 
knees, he went over to a neighbor's to borrow some 
bags. This neighbor had a pretty niece who lived 
in Kicaragua, which is just over the way, and 
who was now on a visit to her uncle. 

It was near dusk ; his neighbor was not at home ; 
but, with that careless indifference which travellers 
in the tropics will appreciate, he walked into the 
shanty, slightly nodded to some one he saw sitting 
in the corner, and immediately stretched himself 
out in a hammock. 

The timid girl, less frightened at this rude free- 
dom than at the bushy whiskers of the Northerner, 
ansv/ered his inquiries as to when her uncle would 
be in, curtsied, and left the room ; but in doing so 
she discovered about the trimmest ancle and the 
neatest pair of stockings Mr. Johnson had ever 
beheld. It fixed him. He could not sleep after 
that without dreaming of the pretty feet, and, of 
course, pretty owner. 

Mr. Johnson found business with his neighbor 
very often. The divinity went over home ; Mr. 
Johnson had business over there also ; and with 
genuine American grit obtained the old man's con- 
sent, and actually returned with his daughter. 

Soon after this Mr. Johnson received from the 
7* 



142 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

States the mournful intelligence of his father's 
death, and, like a dutiful son, immediately sailed 
for Plymouth to see his mother and sisters. His 
brother, equally anxious with his mother and 
friends to have him stop at home, offered him a 
situation as clerk in a lawyer's office. But, alas ! 
those pretty feet ! They had caused him to sacri- 
fice his home ; and although shipwrecked in the 
attempt, he is now back in Euatan, with no ex= 
pectation of ever meeting his Plymouth friends 
again during life. " I told them," said he, " she 
was not quite so white as some of them, but she's a 
darn sight better-hearted ;" which is very probably 
a fact. Mr. Johnson affirmed, also, that he could 
not be induced to leave Euatan for the income of 
the most princely merchant in Boston ; but I make 
allowances for a man who has a young wife with 
pretty feet. 

Euatan, as you are aware, is the principal one of 
the celebrated Bay Islands, the sovereignty of which 
has been so long in dispute. Nor can I settle the 
question as to whether the British claim is just or 
not ; I can only give it to you as I get it. 

In the first place you must know there is what 
may be called tiuo Honduras. That is, the State of 
Honduras, and these Bay Islands with a portion 



BRITISH HONDURAS. 143 

of tlie Musquito coast, constituting British Hon- 
duras-, of which Balize is the capital. This will 
relieve a great many blunders people have perpet- 
ually fallen into. 

When or by whom Euatan was originally set- 
tled is now unknown. It was discovered by the 
Spaniards, and was afterwards occupied as a mili- 
tary post, but subsequently abandoned. Soon after 
the Emancipation Act took effect in Jamaica and the 
other British isles, a number of these emancipated 
slaves settled here, and the settlement is now mul- 
tiplied to the number of about three thousand. 

It becoming necessary for them to have a gov- 
ernment, they sent to Jamaica for a magistrate to 
act as governor, voting him a salary of three thou- 
sand dollars, and, being British subjects, of course 
looked to Great Britain for protection. And so 
Great Britain claims the right to protect them ; and 
she does protect them. 

It was off this island that the pirate Walker 
rendezvoused the present summer ; and from what 
I have said respecting the immigration hither of a 
few white Americans, you will probably suppose 
there might be some advantage taken of these 
islanders ; but do not think it. Mr, William 
Walker's recent experience at Truxillo will prob- 
ably induce him to respect Euatan, 



144 SUMMEE ON THE CARIBBEAN, 

Nevertheless, Euatan is measurably affected, of 
course, by tbe prosperity of the main land, and if 
the future administration of the United States 
government is to be as weak and vacillating as the 
past has been, it is difficult to say what is to be the 
end of these invasions. 

At present there is but little communication be- 
tween this excellent island and the United States. 
Thanks to your unjust policy, (wide-spread infamy,) 
the natives can not be induced to look towards 
America, and so can not see the difference between 
the Northern and Southern States. This feeling 
has been heightened recently by the fact that a 
merchant, who dealt in fruits with certain parties 
in New Orleans, went over there on business. He 
was also a British magistrate, and took with him 
the necessary papers to certify that fact. Hardly 
had he reached the shore before he was arrested 
and taken to prison ; and when he supposed to estop 
their procedure by showing that he was a British 
magistrate, the New Orleans constable replied; 
" If Queen Victoria were to come over here, and 
she were black, I'd put her in jail !" 

I am asked to point out, as I go along, what 
could be done whereby persons could gain a compe- 
tence ? Any thing in the shape of work will gain 



BRITISH HONDURAS. 145 

a competence, — the trouble being, in all these coun- 
tries, that a living is too easily gained. But fruits 
are the principal export. Could a vessel be run be- 
tween this and Baltimore, or any other respectable 
port of the United States, it would pay beyond a 
peradventure. It would also furnish the means of 
getting here safe the fruits from wasting, for want of 
occasional vessels, and also supply news ; which is 
an inconceivable desideratum. 

Land is offered at a shilling an acre ; import duty 
is but two per cent., and exports free ; which, con- 
sidering the English language prevails, give it a 
decided advantage as a place of settlement. 

Euatan is but thirty miles from Truxillo, Hondu-^ 
ras, and one hundred and twenty from Balize ; and 
these are the only ways of getting here from New 
York, at a cost of sixty dollars. For the want of 
such a vessel as I have intimated, crops of oranges 
and limes are frequently swept into the sea. The 
Pine-apples are large and of a superior quality. 
Walk out into the grounds early in the morning, 
take a Machette and strike one open, and nothing 
can give you an idea of their flavor except to 
imagine you are sipping the nectar of the gods. 

In the interior of the island are cocoa-nut 
groves, and other marks of improvement, such as 



146 SUMMER ON THE CAEIBBEAN. 

an old fortress hid awaj from the sea, which clearly 
prove the island to have been anciently inhabited ; 
but, like many other interesting objects which the 
historian fails to comprehend, by whom, or when, 
is left entirely to the conception of the poets. 

*' Gone are all the barons bold ; 
Gone are all the knights and squires ] 
Gone the abbot, stern and cold, 
And the brotherhood of friars." 

- ENGLISH VS. AMERICAN VIEW OF CENTRAL 
AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 

It is but fair to say the Hon. E. G-. Sqnier shows 
very clearly the forced nature of the English claims, 
and that Euatan rightly belongs to Honduras. But 
then I should think Mr. Squier, or any other 
American, would blush to talk about British pro" 
divities to piracy. 

The following are the views of Mr. Trollope 
(English) on the most important of Central Ameri- 
can affairs,* who probably also intends by them to 
give Mr. S. a rap on the knuckles. 

"As I have before stated, there was, some few 
years since, a considerable passenger traffic through 
Central America by the route of the lake of 

* Anthony Trollope's West Indies and Spanish Main. Harper 
and Brothers. 



BRITISH HONDUBAS. 147 

Nicaragua. This of course was in the hands of 
the Americans, and the passengers were chiefly those 
going and coming between the Eastern States and 
California. They came down to Grreytov^n at the 
mouth of the San Juan river, in steamers from 
Kew York, and, I believe, from various American 
ports, went up the San Juan river in other steam- 
ers, with flat bottoms, prepared for those waters, 
across the lake in the same way, and then by a 
good road over the intervening neck of land be- 
tween the lake and the Pacific. 

^' Of course the Panama Eailway has done much 
to interfere with this. In the first place, a rival 
route has thus been opened ; though I doubt 
whether it would be a quicker route from New 
York to California if the way by the lake were 
v/ell organized. And then, the company possess- 
ing the line of steamers running to Aspinwall 
from New York has been able to buy off the line 
which would otherwise run to Grreytown, 

'' But this rivalship has not been the main cause 
of the total stoppage of the Nicaraguan route. 
The filibusters came into that land and destroyed 
every thing. They dropped down from California, 
or Realego, Leon, Manaqua, and all the western 
coast of Nicaragua. Then others came from the 



148 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

South-eastern States, from Mobile, and Kew Or= 
leans, and swarmed up tlie river San Juan, devour- 
ing every thing before them. 

" There can be no doubt that Walker's idea, in 
his attempt to possess himself of this country, was, 
that he should become master of the passage across 
the Isthmus. He saw, as so many others have seen, 
the importance of the locality in this point of view ; 
and he probably felt that if he could make himself 
lord of the soil, by his own exertions and on his own 
bottom, his mother country, the United States, would 
not be slow to recognize him. 'I,' he would have 
saidj ' have procured for you the ownership of the 
road which is so desirable for you. Pay me by mak- 
ing me your lieutenant here, and protecting me in 
that position.' 

" The idea was not badly planned, but it was of 
course radically unjust. It was a contemplated 
filching of the road. And Walker found, as all 
men do find, that he could not get good tools to do 
bad work. He tried the job with a very rough lot 
of tools ; and now, though he has done much harm 
to others, he has done very little good to himself. 
I do not think we shall hear much more of him. 

" And among the worst injuries which he has done 
is this disturbance of the lake traffic. This route 



BRITISH HONDURAS. 149 

has been altogether abandoned. There, in the San 
Jnan river, is to be seen one old steamer, with its 
bottom upwards, a relic of the filibusters and their 
destruction. 

'' All along the banks tales are told of their injus- 
tice and sufferings. How recklessly they robbed 
on their journey up the country, and how they 
returned to Greytown — those who did return, 
whose bones are not whitening the lake shores — ■ 
wounded, maimed, and miserable. • 

" Along the route traders were beginning to es- 
tablish themselves ; men prepared to provide the 
travellers with food and drink, and the boats with 
fuel for their steam. An end for the present has 
been put to all this. The weak governments of the 
country have been able to afford no protection to 
these men, and, placed as they were beyond the 
protection of England or the United States, they 
have been completely open to attack. The filibus- 
ters for a while have destroyed the transit through 
Nicaragua; and it is hardly matter of surprise 
that the president of that land, the neighboring 
republic, should catch at any scheme which pro- 
poses to give them back this advantage, especially 
when promise is made of the additional advantage 
of effectual protection. 



150 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

" To US Englishmen it is a matter of indifference 
in whose hands the transit may be, so long as 
it is free and open to the world ; so long as a 
difference of nationality creates no difference in the 
fares charged, or in the facilities afforded. For our 
own purposes I have no doubt the Panama line is 
the best, and will be the route we shall use. But 
we should be delighted to see a second line opened. 
If Mr. Squier can accomplish his line through Hon- 
duras we shall give him great honor, and acknowl- 
edge that he has done the world a service. Mean- 
time we shall be very happy to see the lake transit 
reestablished." 

There is no hope for the Central American States 
except by intervention on the part of some govern- 
ment capable of protecting them. 



LETTEE XYl. 

O o n c 1 u s i ^ e STimiwLary. 

CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF THE SPANISH MAIN DOMINICANA RE- 
VIEWED—THE MAGNIFICENT BAY OF SAMANA CONCLUSIVE 

SUMMARY. 

fHUS have I endeavored to seize on whatever 
might seem to be of importance, and at the 
same time interesting to such of your readers as 
desired to have some more general information re- 
specting tropical America. 

I am aware that I have not analyzed the soil, nor 
(so long as it produced well) have I cared whether 
it was *^ composed of the debris of these limestones 
and lava mountains," or " tempered by the decay- 
ing vegetation of the centuries past." Nor have I 
entered into any essay to show how the lofty sierras 
of Honduras differed from those of Nicaragua, or 
those of the islands from the Spanish Main. It 
would be easy to give you a chapter stating that "the 
su.mmits of some of them are of hard sandstone or 
granite ; some are covered with layers of mould of 
different colors and density, sometimes mixed with 



152 SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

stones of different degrees of hardness, and more 
or less calcinable ; and some of them of various 
vitrifiable substances." But I take it that the way 
to make a thing useful is also to have it agreeable. 
Who reads, for example, Mr. Wells' well-written 
but ponderous " Travels and Explorations in Hon- 
duras " ? 

Central America, by common assent, not only 
realizes in its geographical position the ancient idea 
of the centre of the world, but is in its physical 
aspect and configuration of surface an epitome of 
all the countries and of all climes. " High moun- 
tain ranges, isolated peaks, elevated table lands, 
and broad and fertile plains, are here grouped to- 
gether, relieved by beautiful lakes and majestic riv- 
ers ; the whole teeming with animal and vegetable 
life, and possessing every variety of climate from 
torrid heat to the cool and bracing temperature of 
eternal spring." 

On the Atlantic slope rain falls in greater or less 
abundance for the entire year ; vegetation is rank, 
and the climate damp and proportionately insalubri- 
ous, while the Pacific slope and the elevated regions 
of the interior are comparatively dry and healthy. 

With this variety of "physical circumstances," 
also, the people differ, and have always differed, in 



CONCLUSIVE SUMMARY. 153 

a direct and corresponding ratio ; the inhabitants of 
the cool and healthy regions having at the time of 
the discovery systematized forms of government 
and worship, while the hotter and less salubrious 
coasts were occupied by a distinct family of men 
unfixed in their abodes, having no social enjoy- 
ments, and living on the natural fruits of the earth. 
In Central America, therefore, Dr. Smith's cele- 
brated essay on " Civilization — its Independence of 
Physical Circumstance," receives a striking illustra- 
tion, the damp Musquito coasts having propagated 
only a rude tribe of men ; while San Salvador, for 
example, sustains a population highly civilized, and 
equal in number to New England. 

But I have dwelt at most length on the island of 
Hayti, because it is a source of greatest interest to 
us, and becau.se there is perhaps no country the in- 
trinsic value of which is so little known ; and while 
I can see no objection but everything to encourage 
by governmental influence the establishment of a 
colony in some parts of the Central American 
States, neitber do I know why it might not be es- 
tablished in the Spanish territory of Hayti. I have 
given another gentleman's views, which are worth 
more than my own, as to the vast population the 
country is capable of sustaining, and have shown 



164 SUMMEE ON THE CAEIBBEAN. 

that especially from Porto Cabello west, to the Bay 
of Samana east, no finer province could certainly 
be desired. That noble bay, as I am informed, has 
been surveyed heretofore by a corps of American 
engineers, who pronounced it the choicest point 
for a naval station on the Caribbean coasts. It 
is also assumed, from the rapid increase of the 
coral reefs in the Bahama channels, that this in 
time will furnish the only safe channel for Califor- 
nia steamers, and even for larger vessels bound 
from the Northern States to I^ew Orleans. I have 
nothing to do with that, further than to state it as 
I have it. The insurance companies will however 
appreciate this assumption, if we are to judge from 
the number of wrecks which have recently occurred 
between the Caicos and Florida reefs. 

Surrounding the bay of Samana are beds of 
coal as if on purpose to supply such steamers ; but 
they now lie unworked, useless, and almost un- 
known. Into this bay empties the Yuna river, 
which takes its rise far back in the northern and 
middle range of mountains, and, fed by innumer- 
able tributaries, winds its course towards this mag- 
nificent harbor through the widest portion of the 
Koyal plains. 

" In briefly describing the principal bays of 



CONCLUSIVE SUMMARY. 165 

Dominicana," says Mr. Courtney, "the first of im- 
portance is the far-famed and magnificent bay of 
Samana, at the north-eastern end of the island, at 
the month of the Yuna river. It is about fifty 
miles from east to west, and varying in width from 
fifteen to twenty miles, and of a great depth. The 
entrance to it is at the east end, and is about a 
mile wide, as beyond that is shoal water, to the 
south side some little islands and bars appearing 
above the surface. An old fort, erected long since 
on the high bluff on the north side, a few miles 
above the mouth and before it widens out, com- 
mands its entrance. The hills and mountains on 
either side of the bay rise back from it to a great 
height, their sides being covered with beautiful 
slopes, plateaus, and benches. The coasts are here 
and there indented with minor bays and inlets, the 
most important of which is at the town of Samana, 
about twenty-five miles up the bay on the north 
side. It is a land-locked harbor and very deep, as 
are all the inlets. The view of the bay from either 
side across to the oj^posite shores, covered as it is 
with swarms of ducks atid swans and other water 
fowl ; and the coasts and hills and mountains cov- 
ered with flowers and verdure and fruit, is truly 
beautiful and sublime, equalling, if not surpassing, 



156 ■ SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

in beauty and magnificence, the Bay of Naples, 
and is obviously the key to tbe Gulf of Mexico. 

" Here all tbe navies of the world could lie at 
anchor in safety.'^ 

It would be useless for me to give a minute de- 
scription of each particular bay in each particular 
State, thus swelling these pages into the usual pon- 
derous three-dollar volumes which nobody buys, 
and so none read. I am aware that the Bay of 
Fonseca, and others on the Spanish Main, are 
equally deserving, if necessary, to be described. 
Mr. Wells has shown this, and also that the inte- 
rior jiistricts of Honduras are as rich in silver and 
gold as any region of which California can boast. 
I understand, however, that parties have since been 
formed on the strength of Mr. Wells' report, and 
thoroughly equipped for mining operations. But 
as I am informed, they were not allowed to enter 
the interior in consequence of those filibustering 
propensities which all white Americans are sup- 
posed to possess. 

A party organized to \^rk the mines on a small 
scale in Dominicana has lately sailed for the island. 
They will not be interrupted by the present govern- 
ment, but the durability of that government is, I 



CONCLUSIVE SUMMARY. 167 

am sorry to say, a question which may be agi- 
tated, and even settled, hefore I finish writing this 
hook. 

And now I have struck the key note of all I 
have to say. The most beautiful countries in the 
world are the most lamentably ill-governed. It 
makes no difference to any one having foreign pro- 
tection, as to their personal safety, whether there be 
revolution or not. This white Americans and all 
Englishmen or anybody else have, but the free 
colored people of America. Thej have no protec- 
tion anywhere. 

Now this is a shame and a disgrace to the civil- 
ized world. But so it is, and, as Mr. Douglas would 
ask, " What are you going to do about it?" 

I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of such 
eminent persons as have proposed to acknowl- 
edge the independence of these governments, form 
treaties therewith, and even to purchase territory 
and provide the means whereby a settlement could 
be established. I have rather much cause to believe 
the new government (that is to be) will give the sub- 
ject earnest consideration. Kothing could be more 
just, and, as I believe, wise or popular. I know that 
such a measure would not be opposed by the peo- 
ple of the tropics, for there are many who enter- 



158 " SUMMER ON THE CARIBBEAN. 

tain progressive ideas, and who have sympathies 
in common with Americans, who, the moment a 
jDrotected settlement were established, wonld flock 
thither from the neighboring States and islands, 
and immediately swell the number of the original 
emigrants. I say I know this, because so many have 
said so, among whom could be mentioned English 
and American families, white and colored. But it 
pains me to say, the truth is, u.nless this protection 
could be given, or unless a suf&cient number could 
emigrate (which they are not able to do) to protect 
themselves, none of these States seem to be in a 
sufficiently reliable condition to prevent such a 
movement from being a matter of great risk. 

I have shown, I think, which Avas the object of 
this visit, what might be accomplished provided 
the government should provide means, never so 
small, towards the furtherance of such a move- 
ment. 

It is the only way by which a colony to any 
extent could be permanently established, which 
would give tone and stability to the government 
there, and turn the important commerce of the 
tropics in this direction. There are now probably 
ten European vessels in the harbor of Spanish 
America, but especially of Dominicana, where there 



CONCLUSIVE SUMMARY. 159 

is one belonging to the United States, although 
the latter is the natural market, from which they 
receive entirely their flour and salted pork. (Mer- 
chants of Cincinnati will appreciate this.) 

I presume it would be difficult to find an Ameri- 
can merchant in any of the Spanish States, who 
had not succeeded in making a fortune by the great 
advantages of trade in mahogany, dye-woods, hides, 
and tobacco, almost immediately after commencing 
business, but who has not as invariably lost it, in 
whole or in part, by the depression of currency in 
consequence of the momentary revolutions. 

How grandly would both these and those States 
" loom up in the eyes of the world," if, abandoning 
that policy which makes them the indiscriminate 
oppressors of the weak, the American people should 
set themselves at work through their new adminis- 
tration, to secure by this means the commerce of 
those countries ; give them peace, and forever wipe 
out the stain which Walker has cast upon the very 
name of all who boast themselves citizens of this 
republic. Such a measure would in some degree 
recompense the colored race for the services they 
have rendered to the government, the fruits of 
which they have not been permitted to enjoy ; would 
make this great nation less obnoxious to the weak ; 



160 SUMMER ON" THE CARIBBEAN. 

lay the foundation of a future empire ; and cause 
those lovely regions to bloom with industry and 
skill as they now bloom with eternal verdure. 



END, 



APPENDIX 



(from the anglo-apeioan magazine.) 



" Do these things mean nothing ? What the tender and poetic youth dreams 
to-day and conjures up with inarticidate speech, is to-morrow the vociferated 
result of public opinion, and the day after Is the charter of nations." — PMlUps. 

^HE stars of the tropics are the guiding stars of 
^ the age. The sympathy of the world is with 
the South, and the tendencies of things are south- 
ward. The controlling influence of the great 
commercial staple of our Southern States, the grow- 
ing demand for the productions of the tropics, the 
discovery of gold toward the torrid zone, and a 
consequent want of labor in .that direction, indicate 
firmly the force of these assertions. Other causes, 
apparently indirect or yet apparently opposed, such 
as the disappearance of slavery from Maine to 
Maryland, and the rapidity with which the slaves 
•8* 



162 APPENDIX. 

are hurried further souths might be cited on the 
one hand ; and on the other the fihbustering pro- 
pensities of Southern fire-eaters as the unerring and 
immutable laws of destiny, guided by an all- wise 
and overruling Proyidence, " The coral zoophite 
does not know that while it builds itself a house it 
also creates an island for the world ;" and the master^ 
as he pays the passage of his slave from the more 
Northern slave States to New Mexico, is but the 
rude agent of a superior power, urging him to more 
inviting fields for enterprise^ and for his higher and 
more responsible duties as a freeman. 

Eeforms do not go backwards, nor filibustering 
northwards, and " nothing is more certain than that 
the slaves are to be free ;" but the problem as to 
what position they are to sustain as freemen is but 
little thought of, andy of course^ less understood. It 
is true some suggestions have been offered on this 
subject, foremost among which stands that of Mr. 
Helper, as the most absurd and ridiculous. It 
did not occur to Mr. Helper, when he suggested 
the broad idea of chartering all the vessels lying 
around loose for the huddling together of the blacks 
after emancipation and shipping them off to Africa, 
—it did not occur to him that they were men, and 
might not wish to go • at least it did not occur to 



APPEKDIX. 168 

him that they were men. So I make the sugges- 
tion for his benefit, and for the benefit of those who 
may come after him, this being a question not to be 
settled by arbitrary means, but by means which 
shall meet the approbation of all parties concerned^ 
nor yet forgetting that at the head of these parties 
stands Him whose name is not to be mentioned 
without reverence. 

Whence comes the colored people's instinctive 
horror of colonization in Africa ? Colonizationists 
gay they can not account for it, since Africa is their 
fatherlando But if this were any argument, I could 
account for it by the simple affirmation that it is not 
their fatherland. The truth is, "Time has shown 
that the causes which have produced races never 
to im.prove Africa, but to abandon it, and give their 
vigor and derive their strength from other climes, 
is not to be reversed by the best efforts of the best 
men." Besides this, charity begins at home. Allow- 
ing that the colonizationists, by sending a few hand** 
fuls of colored men to Africa, may plant the germ 
of civilization there, that the seed may spread or the 
fire may flame until the whole continent becomes 
illuminated with Christian love, and her sons stand 
forth regenerated and redeemed from the dark 
superstition that enthralled them. Then what ? 



164 APPENDlXo 

It is a great deal, and a great deal more than we 
can hope for, and a hero is he who will sacrifice his 
life in making the attempt to bring about such a 
magnificent result ; but in doing this very little 
will be accomplished for the millions who remain, 
increasing, on this continento 

Nevertheless, there is a growing disposition 
among colored men of thought to abandon that 
policy which teaches them to cling to the skirts of 
the white people for support, and to emigrate to 
Africa, Hayti, or wherever else they may expect to 
better their condition.; and it is encouraging to know 
that the time is at hand when men can speak their 
convictions on this subject without being made the 
victims of iliterate abuse and indiscriminate denun- 
elation, all of which is the natural result of more 
general information, and which will lead to the 
discover-y at last of what is to be the final purpose 
of American slavery — the destiny of the colored 
race after slavery shall be abolished. 

The history of Hayti and Jamaica, and of the 
American tropics generally, indicates the propaga- 
tion of the colored race, exclusive of whites or 
blacks. (This is simply calling things by their 
right names, for which the compiler of these facts 
expects to be made the most popular writer of the 



APPENDIX. 165 

age, of being highly flattered, infinitely abused, 
feared, hated, and all that attends the discovery of 
truth generally.) Throughout the West Indies, 
with the single exception of Cuba, the whites have 
been unable to keep up their numbers, and in that 
instance only by a recent flood of immigration on a 
large scale from Europe. The colored race, on the 
contrary, is perfectly well adapted to this region, and 
luxuriates in it ; and it is only through their agency 
that some small portion of the torrid zone has been 
brought within the circle of civilized industry. I 
have said their history would prove this. 

"When discovered by the Spaniards these islands 
were inhabited by a colored people not unlike our 
Indians. Their homes were invaded ; they were 
reduced to a state of miserable vassalage, and the 
proud Caucasian stalked about, the conquerer of 
every spot of earth his avarice or cupidity desired. 
The natives, unable to endure the persecutions to 
which they were subjected, withered and fell like 
the autumn leaves, and Africa became the hunting- 
ground of the slave pirate for hardier and more 
enduring slaves. 

Africa became their hunting-ground, and quiet 
villagers were startled in the dead of night to be- 
hold their huts in flames, and to hear the shrieks of 



166 . APPENDIX. 

their fellow-men and fellow-women, wlio were being 
torn awaj from their native homes as victims for 
the slave-ship, there to suffer all the tortures of the 
yoke and the branding-iron, and finally to be land- 
ed, if at all, on the American coast, with no other 
prospect than that of a life-bondage spread out be- 
fore them. This state of wickedness continued, so 
far as England was concerned, until its glaring out- 
rages challenged the attention of the British realm, 
and until the Parliament of England passed an act 
declaring all British subjects should be free ; — "An 
act of legislation which, for justice and magnanimity, 
stands unrivalled in the annals of the world, and 
which will be the glory of England and the admi- 
ration of posterity when her proudest military and 
naval achievements shall have faded from the 
recollection of mankind;" an act of legislation 
which restored the liberties of eight hundred thou- 
sand of our fellow-men, and left them in possession 
of superior claims and circumstances to those from 
which they had been originally removed^ (because, un- 
doubtedly, the chances of any free man are better 
upon this continent than in Africa.) 

Then came a series of American slanders: "Ja- 
maica was ruined ;" " the negro unfit for freedom ;" 
and the downfall of prosperity and the loss of trade 
were everywhere said to be inevitable. 



APPENDIX. 167 

But the negro and his descendants are proof 
against slander and against the New York Herald, 
which terms are soon to be synonymous. Jamaica 
was not ruined : but, while these complaints were 
raised against her population, 40,000 land patents, 
varying from ten to one hundred acres each, were 
being taken up in a single year! Lands having 
been provided and schools introduced, happiness 
began to smile, prosperity reappeared, and the 
whole country was redeemed from what had been 
a field of terror to what promises to become the 
very garden of the Western world. 

This is said to be an axiom of political philosophy 
upon which it is safe to rely : For any people to 
maintain their rights^ they must constitute an essential 
part of the ruling element of the country in which they 
live. The whites of the tropics are but few in 
number. They have heretofore sustained them- 
selves by their superior wealth and intelligence. 
But, as fast as the colored people rise in this respect, 
their white rulers are pushed aside to make way 
for officers of their own race. This is perfectly 
natural. When a colony of Norwegians come over 
from Norway and settle a county in Wisconsin, do 
they elect a yankee to represent them ? Norwe- 
gians elect Norwegians, Germans elect Germans, 



168 APPENDIX. 

and colored men elect colored men, whenever they 
have the opportunity. 

Even now a large majority of the subordinate 
ofQ.cers of Jamaica, I understand, are colored men. 
The Parliament is about equally divided, and the 
Attorney-General and Emigration Agent-G-eneral 
are colored men ; and it is fair to assume, within a 
few years of the date of this paper, there will not 
be a single white man throughout the West Indies 
occupying a position within the gift of the people. 

A retired merchant of Philadelphia, a man of 
large thought and liberal views, having an experi- 
ence of fifteen or twenty years' residence in Hayti, 
in reply to certain letters asking for information 
and advice respecting the subject now under con- 
sideration, published a pamphlet in which he says : 
u There is a long view as well as a short view to 
be taken of every great question which bears upon 
human progress ; but we are often unable or un- 
willing to take the former, until some time after a 
question is settled. 

" ' Manifest destiny' has been, for some years, a 
familiar and accepted phrase in the mouths of our 
politicians, and each class suggests a plan for carry- 
ing it out in accordance with its own specific inter- 
ests, or some preconceived theory. The pro-slavery 



APPENDIX. 169 

adventurer may yet gain a footing in Central 
America, but it will not be to establish slavery. 
Slavery once abolisbed, has never been reestablish- 
ed in the same place, in America, except in one 
instance — that of the smaller French colonies, now 
again free. The vain effort to reenslave St. Do- 
mingo cost the French forty thousand men. The 
free negro, that nothing else can arouse, will fight 
against the replacement of the yoke which he has 
once thrown off; and the number of these in 
Central America is sufficient to prove a stumbling- 
block if not a barrier to its return. To reestablish 
slavery permanently, where it is has once been 
abolished, is to swim against the great moral cur- 
rent of the age. 

" We can acknowledge to-day that the persecu- 
tion of the Puritans by Laud and his predecessors, 
only intended, as it was, to produce conformity to 
the Church, really produced Xew England. And 
we can now see that the obstinacy of George the 
Third was as much a cause of the Declaration of 
Independence, at the time it was made, as the per- 
severance of John Adams, — the one being the 
necessary counterpart of the other, the two together 
forming the entire implement which clipped the tie. 
Now if we can make the above admissions in re, 
9 



170 ^ APPENDIX. 

spect to these, the two greatest settled questions of 
modern times, without excusing either persecution 
or obstinacy in wrong, but keeping steadily in view 
that every man is responsible for the motives which 
govern his conduct, be the result of that conduct 
what it may, why should we not begin to look at 
this, the third great question of the same class, 
still unsQttled, from the same point of view ? 

^'■If, then, I were asked what was probably the final 
purpose of negro slavery, I should answer — To furnisji 
the basis of a free population for the tropics of Ameri- 
ca. 

"I believe that the Anglo-Americans, with the 
Africans, whom a part of the former now hold in 
bondage, will one day unite to form this race for the 
tropics, with or without combination with the races 
already there. But whether the African quota of 
it shall be transferred thither by convulsive or 
organized movements — or be gradually thinned out 
from their present abode, as from a great nursery, 
by directed but spontaneous transition — or retire, 
by degrees, with the ' poor whites,' before the 
peaceful encroachments of robust Northern labor, it 
would be useless now to conjecture. It is enough 
now to know that labor, like capital, goes in the 
end to the place where it is most wanted ; and that 



APPENDIX. 171 

labor, free from the destructive element of caste, has 
been, and still is, the great desideratum of the 
tropics, as it is of all other places which do not al- 
ready possess it. I have already spoken of the 
presumed ability of the Southern States to spare 
this kind of labor. Should there, however, prove 
to be any part of the Union where the climate or 
the culture really requires the labor of the black 
man, then there he will remain, and eventually be 
absorbed by the dominant race; and from that 
point the complexion of our population will begin 
to shade off into that of the dark belt of Anglo- 
Africans, which will then extend across the northern 
tropics, 

" I know that most of our Northern people, while 
they demand, in the strongest terms, all the rights 
of man for the negro or mulatto, are unable to 
eradicate from their minds a deeply-grounded prej- 
udice against his person. In spite of themselves, 
they shrink from the thought of an amalgamation 
such as" the foregoing observations imply. But 
these friends are not aware how quickly this preju- 
dice begins to melt away as soon as one has enter- 
ed any part of the tropics where the African race 
is in the ascendant, or where people of colored 
blood have attained to such social consideration as 



172 ^ APPENDIX. 

to make themselves respected. I suppose no North- 
ern man ever forgets the occasion when, for the 
first time, he arrives at such a place, and the col- 
ored merchant to whom he is addressed comes for- 
ward, with the self-possession which attends self-re- 
spect, and offers him his hand. He begins to be 
healed of his prejudice from that hour." 

I am also aware that the notion prevails gener- 
ally in the United States that the mulatto has no 
vitality of race ; that after three or four generations 
he dies out. This idea, I believe, finds its strongest 
advocates among the slaveholders and the readers 
of De Bow's " Review," and possibly it may be cor- 
rect when applied to the colder latitudes; but I 
have no reason to think it is so in or near the tropics. 
Moreau de St, Mery, in his minute " Description 
of the French part of St. Domingo." says, with re- 
spect to the vitality of the mulatto, which term 
includes all persons of color, however slight, of 
mixed European and African descent : " Of all 
the combinations of white and black, the mulatto 
unites the most physical advantages. It is he who 
derives the strongest constitution from these crossings 
of race, and who is the best suited to the climate 
of St. Domingo. To the strength and soberness of 
the negro he adds the grace of form and intelli- 



APPENDIX. '* 178 

gence of the whites, and of all the human beings of 
St. Domingo he is the longest lived. . . I have 
already said they are well made and very intelli- 
gent ; but they are as much given to idleness and 
love of repose as the negro. 

Hermann Burmeister, Professor of Zoology in the 
University of Halle, who spent fourteen months, in 
1850-51, in studying at Brazil the " Comparative 
Anatomy and Physiology of the American JSTegro," 
speaks thus of the Brazilian mulatto : " The great- 
est number of the colored inhabitants of Brazil are of 
the negro and European races, called mulattoes. It 
may be asserted that the inferior classes of the free 
population are composed of such. If ever there 
should be a republic, such as exists in the United 
States of America, as it is the aim of a numerous 
party in Brazil to establish, the whole class of 
artisans would doubtless consist of a colored popula- 
tion. ^ * ^ Already in every village and town 
the mulattoes are in the ascendant, and the traveller 
comes in contact with more of them than of whites." 
There is nothing in these extracts, or in the essay 
from which they are taken, to indicate that the 
Brazilian mulatto is dying out. These are the ob- 
servations of a patient investigator and man of 
science, and they have the more value, inasmuch 
9* 



174 APPENDIX. 

as they were not set down to support any particular 
theory. The Professor speaks elsewhere in high 
but qualified terms of the moral and intellectual 
qualities of the mulatto, coming to conclusions 
similar to those of Moreau de St. Mery, except 
that he does not accuse them of indolence. 

The author of " Eemarks on Hayti and the 
Mulatto," whose experience as a merchant I have 
mentioned, further says : 

" This race, if on the white side it derives its 
blood from either the English or French stock, pos- 
sesses within itself a combination of all the mental 
and physical qualities necessary to form a civilized 
and progressive population for the tropics, and it is 
the only race yet found of which this com he said^ 

" I have no desire to undervalue the blacks of 
Hayti, I have found many shrewd, worthy, and 
intelligent men among them ; and the country, it 
is well known, has produced several black men of 
a high order of talent ; but these have been excep- 
tional cases, like the King Philips, Hendricks, Te- 
cumsehs, and Eed Jackets, of our North American 
Indians. As a race, they do not get on. The same 
may he said of every other original race. The blacks 
form no exception to the well-known law, that cul- 
ture and advancement in man are the result of a 
combination of races." 



APPENDIX 175 

KEMARKS. 

I have no desire to retain, by the republishing of 
the above extracts, the appellation of " Defender 
of the Mulattoes ;" but have inserted them here, 
that they may not be misunderstood. All I 
have to say is, that I believe it would be actually 
more proper, numerically speaking, to call at least 
the free persons of African descent in America, 
colored or mulattoes, rather than negroes. Yet, how 
often do we hear respectable men of all parties, 
talk of " Negro nationalities,'^ and regarding the 
two races as "two negative poles mutually repel= 
ling each other," leaving no middle ground for 
the great mass of the colored people or mulattoes, 
whom, as some say, "God did not make." In= 
stead of such impiety, and in place of sending one- 
half of the colored people to establish black na- 
tionalities in Africa, leaving the other half to be 
absorbed by the whites, I think it is much more 
liberal to regard them as one people, the political 
destiny of whom is unknown, or at best but begun 
to be discerned. To divide the colored people at 
this late day by any such process, would seem to 
me like splitting a child, in twain, in order to give 
one half to its mother and the other to its father. 
/ go for a colored nationality, that shall divide the 



176 APPENDIX. 

continent with the whites, and the two empires be- 
ing known respectively as Anglo-American and 
Anglo-African . 

In conclusion, I desire to return my thanks for 
the complimentary manner in which the preceding 
communications have been received; and I would 
fain hope they might be as favorably regarded 
now that they are presented in this present form. 

How proudly will the colored race honor that 
day, when, abandoning a policy which teaches 
them to cling to the skirts of the white people for 
support, they shall set themselves zealously at 
work to create a position of their own — an empire 
which shall challenge the admiration of the world, 
rivalling the glory of their historic ancestors, 
whose undying fame was chronicled by the ever- 
lasting pyramids at the dawn of civilization upon 
mankind. 

" Hope of the world ! the rishig race 

May heaven with fostering love embrace ; 
And, turning to a whiter page, 
Commence with them a better age ; 
An age of light and joy, which we, 
Alas ! in prospect only see." 



APPENDIX. 177 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED STATESMEN AND PHILANTHROPISTS. 

"My proposition is simply to provide for the peaceful emi- 
gration of all those free colored persons of African descent 
who may desire so to emigrate to some place in Central or 
South America. ... I beUeve the time has ripened for 
the execution of the plan originated by Jefferson in his day, 
agreed in by Madison and Monroe and all the earher and bet- 
ter statesmen of the Eepublic, both North and South. — Speech 
of Senator DooUttle. 

"Instead, therefore, of being an expense to the nation, the 
foundation of such a colony would be the grandest commer- 
cial enterprise of the age 

" Are the young merchants of Boston and of America indif- 
ferent to an enterprise which would give to our commerce, 
without a rival, such an empire as that to which I have 
pointed ? — an empire not to be won by cruelty and conquest, 
but by peacefal and benignant means, and by imparting to 
others the inestimable blessings of hberty which we enjoy, 
and removing from our midst the (ni\j cause which threatens 
the prosperity and stability of the Union . . ." — Speech 
of Hon. F. P, Blair^ Boston. 

"It is my intention to use every effort to give practical 
effect to the propositions submitted to Congress, and I believe 
that the colored people themselves can give very ef&cient aid 
in the matter. If they will only let it be known that they 
approve, and are themselves willing to act upon the proposi- 
tion, it will give it a great impulse." — Hon. F. P. Blair — Let- 
ter to J. D. Harris. 

" The only mode in which we can reheve our country, 
relieve the blacks and wliites, and provide separate homes for 



178 APPENDIX. 

them, is by some scheme which luill meet the approbation of 
hoth — one which the parties themselves will execute.'' — Hon. Pres- 
ton 



" Among all feasible things, there is nothing that in my 
judgment would so much promote a peaceful aboUtion of 
slavery as your son's plan." — Ron. Gferrit Smith to F. P- 
Blair, Sen. 

''The feeling of the free blacks in relation to African 
colonization is no criterion by wliich to judge of the success 
of American intertropical emigration. ... I am confi- 
dent that with proper inducements to be held out before them 
in regard to security of Hberty and property, and prospects 
for well-doing, I could muster two hundred emigrant faniilies 
or about one thousand colored persons annually for the next 
five years, of the very best class for colonial settlement and 
industry, from various parts of the United States and Canada, 
who would gladly embark for homes in our American tropics." 
—Rev. J. T. Holly. 

To the above might be added the views and opinions of 
many of the most eminent men in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, 
Maryland, and other States, among them the Hon. Mr. Bates, 
and Sam'l T. G-lover, Esq., of St. Louis. But none seem more 
appropriate to close this volume than the following from the 
Kev. Dr. Duffield, of Detroit. 

Detroit^ Fel. 18, 1860. 
Dear Bro. Kendall : — 

Allow me to commend to your attention the object in 

which Mr. Harris has embarked. I think very favorably of 

it on various grounds, but regard it as especially indicative of 

God's providential designs in relation to the introduction of 

the gospel into that portion of our American continent which 



APPENDIX. 179 

has attracted our attention, and which led yourself with me 
to memorialize the General Assembly on the subject of com- 
mencing a system of missions in Mexico, Central and South- 
ern America. I had intended writing to you on the subject 
with a view to the prosecution of the matter of our memori- 
al next spring, when the Assembly meets at Pittsburg. I 
know not, nor can I learn, what has been done in pursuance 
of the action of the last G-eneral Assembly. The whole mat- 
ter as reported I failed to understand, and have since had no 
Hght shed- upon the subject. May not this movement prove 
an occasion, if not of connection to the mission, of bespeak- 
ing a deeper interest in behalf of our benighted populations of 
Central and Southern America than has yet been felt by and 
^?-.mir country. . . . 

Truly Yours, 

Geo. Duffield. 

Rev. Dn. TCendall, of Pittsburg, Pa. 



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